31 Tex. Admin. Code § 69.207 - Administrative Action and Penalties
(a) The
civil statutes relating to shell dredging authorize the revocation of the
permit when the provisions of the permit are not followed. In addition to the
maximum penalty of revoking the permit, the director will seek the following
administrative action and penalties when a violation occurs or when siltation
of a reef is probable.
(b) Major
violations, except as otherwise provided in subsection (c) of this section are
as follows:
(1) First violation will result
in a one-day suspension of permit.
(2) Second violation will result in a
five-day suspension of permit.
(3)
Third violation will result in a ten-day suspension of permit.
(4) Four major violations within a one-year
period will result in a suspension of the permit for 90 days.
(c) Minor violations are as
follows:
(1) Siltation of exposed reef which
is in excess of a trace, as defined, is a minor violation. When traces of silt,
as defined in §
69.203 of this title (relating to
Definitions), are found on exposed reef, the responsible permittee or
permittees, or employee or employees in charge will be notified and requested
to either relocate or modify the operation. If the permittee(s) chooses to
modify operations and the silt problem continues, the person in charge on board
the dredge will again be contacted and directed to shut down immediately and
move from the area. Failure to comply with this second request will result in a
30-day suspension of the permit. If siltation greater than a trace, as herein
defined, has been or is occurring on exposed reef when first discovered by the
department representative, the responsible permittee will be directed to shut
down immediately and relocate a minor violation will have been committed.
Failure to comply at once will result in a 30-day suspension.
(2) Three minor violations within one year
are equivalent to one major violation in determining when a permit suspension
is in order.
(d) All
other violations are as follows:
(1) The
director or director's agent at the scene of the dredging activity has full
authority to order an immediate halt to dredging, and to further order, if
deemed necessary, that the dredge be moved to another permitted location, at
any time when the department representative finds a major or minor violation is
taking place, or that there is a reasonable and probable danger of siltation of
an exposed reef. Refusal to cease dredging or refusal to move the dredge to a
new location, immediately upon the instruction of the department representative
in charge, will be a separate major violation of itself equal in seriousness to
a third major violation as set forth in subsection (a) of this section and will
result in the imposition of a suspension of the permit for 30 days, or, in
aggravated cases, at the discretion of the director, in revocation of the
permit.
(2) In the event a
permittee operates more than one dredge, the director may initiate proceedings
to revoke or suspend the permit insofar as it applies to the particular
offending dredge. However, the director reserves the right to make the
suspension or revocation effective as to all dredges of the
permittee.
(3) At the time an
alleged major or minor violation is discovered by the department
representative, that representative will give a written notice of the alleged
violation to the person in charge of the dredge or other activity resulting in
the alleged violation.
Notes
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.