69-3-116 - Damages to the state.
69-3-116. Damages to the state.
(a) The commissioner may assess the liability of any polluter or violator for damages to the state resulting from any person's pollution or violation, failure, or neglect in complying with any rules, regulations, or standards of water quality promulgated by the board or permits or orders issued pursuant to the provisions of this part.
(b) If an appeal from such assessment is not made to the board by the polluter or violator within thirty (30) days of notification of such assessment, the pollutor or violator shall be deemed to have consented to such assessment and it shall become final.
(c) Damages may include any expenses incurred in investigating and enforcing this part, in removing, correcting, and terminating any pollution, and also compensation for any loss or destruction of wildlife, fish, or aquatic life and any other actual damages caused by the pollution or violation.
(d) Whenever any assessment has become final because of a person's failure to appeal within the time provided, the commissioner may apply to the appropriate court for a judgment, and seek execution on such judgment. The court, in such proceedings, shall treat the failure to appeal such assessment as a confession of judgment in the amount of the assessment.
[Acts 1971, ch. 164, § 15; 1977, ch. 366, § 1; T.C.A., § 70-338.]