State California FGC Sec 5650-5803 Generally POLLUTION (Fish) FISH AND GAME CODE SECTION 5650-5803 5650. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), it is unlawful to deposit in, permit to pass into, or place where it can pass into the waters of this state any of the following: (1) Any petroleum, acid, coal or oil tar, lampblack, aniline, asphalt, bitumen, or residuary product of petroleum, or carbonaceous material or substance. (2) Any refuse, liquid or solid, from any refinery, gas house, tannery, distillery, chemical works, mill, or factory of any kind. (3) Any sawdust, shavings, slabs, or edgings. (4) Any factory refuse, lime, or slag. (5) Any cocculus indicus. (6) Any substance or material deleterious to fish, plant life, or bird life. (b) This section does not apply to a discharge or a release that is expressly authorized pursuant to , and in compliance with, the terms and conditions of a waste discharge requirement pursuant to Section 13263 of the Water Code or a waiver issued pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 13269 of the Water Code issued by the State Water Resources Control Board or a regional water quality control board after a public hearing, or that is expressly authorized pursuant to, and in compliance with, the terms conditions of a federal permit for which the State Water Resources Control Board or a regional water quality control board has, after a public hearing, issued a water quality certification pursuant to Section 13160 of the Water Code. This section does not confer additional authority on the State Water Resources Control Board, a regional water quality control board, or any other entity. (c) It shall be an affirmative defense to a violation of this section if the defendant proves, by a preponderance of the evidence, all of the following: (1) The defendant complied with all applicable state and federal laws and regulations requiring that the discharge or release be reported to a government agency. (2) The substance or material did not enter the waters of the state or a storm drain that discharges into the waters of the state. (3) The defendant took reasonable and appropriate measures to effectively mitigate the discharge or release in a timely manner. (d) The affirmative defense in subdivision (c) does not apply and may not be raised in an action for civil penalties or injunctive relief pursuant to Section 5650.1. (e) The affirmative defense in subdivision (c) does not apply and may not be raised by any defendant who has on two prior occasions in the preceding five years, in any combination within the same county in which the case is prosecuted, either pleaded nolo contendere, been convicted of a violation of this section, or suffered a judgment for a violation of this section or Section 5650.1. This subdivision shall apply only to cases filed on or after January 1, 1997. (f) The affirmative defense in subdivision (c) does not apply and may not be raised by the defendant in any case in which a district attorney, city attorney, or Attorney General alleges, and the court finds, that the defendant acted willfully. 5650.1. (a) Every person who violates Section 5650 is subject to a civil penalty of not more than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) for each violation. (b) The civil penalty imposed for each separate violation pursuant to this section is separate, and in addition to, any other civil penalty imposed for a separate violation pursuant to this section or any other provision of law. (c) In determining the amount of any civil penalty imposed pursuant to this section, the court shall take into consideration all relevant circumstances, including, but not limited to, the nature, circumstance, extent, and gravity of the violation. In making this determination, the court shall consider the degree of toxicity and volume of the discharge, the extent of harm caused by the violation, whether the effects of the violation may be reversed or mitigated, and with respect to the defendant, the ability to pay, the effect of any civil penalty on the ability to continue in business, any voluntary cleanup efforts undertaken, any prior history of violations, the gravity of the behavior, the economic benefit, if any, resulting from the violation, and any other matters the court determines justice may require. (d) Every civil action brought under this section shall be brought by the Attorney General upon complaint by the department, or by the district attorney or city attorney in the name of the people of the State of California, and any actions relating to the same violation may be joined or consolidated. (e) In any civil action brought pursuant to this chapter in which a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, or permanent injunction is sought, it is not necessary to allege or prove at any stage of the proceeding that irreparable damage will occur if the temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, or permanent injunction is not issued, or that the remedy at law is inadequate. (f) After the party seeking the injunction has met its burden of proof, the court shall determine whether to issue a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, or permanent injunction without requiring the defendant to prove that it will suffer grave or irreparable harm. The court shall make the determination whether to issue a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, or permanent injunction by taking into consideration, among other things, the nature, circumstance, extent, and gravity of the violation, the quantity and characteristics of the substance or material involved, the extent of environmental harm caused by the violation, measures taken by the defendant to remedy the violation, the relative likelihood that the material or substance involved may pass into waters of the state, and the harm likely to be caused to the defendant. (g) The court, to the maximum extent possible, shall tailor any temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, or permanent injunction narrowly to address the violation in a manner that will otherwise allow the defendant to continue business operations in a lawful manner. (h) All civil penalties collected pursuant to this section shall not be considered fines or forfeitures as defined in Section 13003 and shall be apportioned in the following manner: (1) Fifty percent shall be distributed to the county treasurer of the county in which the action is prosecuted. Amounts paid to the county treasurer shall be deposited in the county fish and wildlife propagation fund established pursuant to Section 13100. (2) Fifty percent shall be distributed to the department for deposit in the Fish and Game Preservation Fund. These funds may be expended to cover the costs of legal actions or for any other law enforcement purpose consistent with Section 9 of Article XVI of the California Constitution. 5651. Whenever it is determined by the department that a continuing and chronic condition of pollution exists, the department shall report that condition to the appropriate regional water quality control board, and shall cooperate with the board in obtaining correction or abatement in accordance with any laws administered by the board for the control of practices for sewage and industrial waste disposal. 5652. It is unlawful to deposit, permit to pass into, or place where it can pass into the waters of the state, or to abandon, dispose of, or throw away, within 150 feet of the high-water mark of the waters of the state, any cans, bottles, garbage, motor vehicle or parts thereof, rubbish, or the viscera or carcass of any dead mammal, or the carcass of any dead bird. The abandonment of any motor vehicle in any manner that violates this section shall constitute a rebuttable presumption affecting the burden of producing evidence that the last registered owner of record, not having complied with Section 5900 of the Vehicle Code, is responsible for such abandonment and is thereby liable for the cost of removal and disposition of the vehicle. This section prohibits the placement of a vehicle body on privately owned property along a streambank by the property owner or tenant for the purpose of preventing erosion of the streambank. This section does not apply to a refuse disposal site which is authorized by the appropriate local agency having jurisdiction or to the depositing of such materials in a container from which the materials are routinely removed to a legal point of disposal. This section shall be enforced by all law enforcement officers of this state. 5653. (a) The use of any vacuum or suction dredge equipment by any person in any river, stream, or lake of this state is prohibited, except as authorized under a permit issued to that person by the department in compliance with the regulations adopted pursuant to Section 5653.9. Before any person uses any vacuum or suction dredge equipment in any river, stream, or lake of this state, that person shall submit an application for a permit for a vacuum or suction dredge to the department, specifying the type and size of equipment to be used and other information as the department may require. (b) Under the regulations adopted pursuant to Section 5653.9, the department shall designate waters or areas wherein vacuum or suction dredges may be used pursuant to a permit, waters or areas closed to those dredges, the maximum size of those dredges that may be used, and the time of year when those dredges may be used. If the department determines, pursuant to the regulations adopted pursuant to Section 5653.9, that the operation will not be deleterious to fish, it shall issue a permit to the applicant. If any person operates any equipment other than that authorized by the permit or conducts the operation in any waters or area or at any time that is not authorized by the permit, or if any person conducts the operation without securing the permit, the person is guilty of a misdemeanor. (c) The department shall issue a permit upon the payment, in the case of a resident, of a base fee of twenty-five dollars ($25), as adjusted under Section 713, when an onsite investigation of the project size is not deemed necessary by the department, and a base fee of one hundred thirty dollars ($130), as adjusted under Section 713, when the department deems an onsite investigation is necessary. In the case of a nonresident, the base fee shall be one hundred dollars ($100), as adjusted under Section 713, when an onsite investigation is not deemed necessary, and a base fee of two hundred twenty dollars ($220), as adjusted under Section 713, when an onsite investigation is deemed necessary. (d) It is unlawful to possess a vacuum or suction dredge in areas, or in or within 100 yards of waters, that are closed to the use of vacuum or suction dredges. 5653.3. Any person required to possess a permit pursuant to Section 5653 shall present his or her dredging equipment for inspection upon request of a state or county fish and game warden. 5653.5. For purposes of Section 5653, "river, stream, or lake" means the body of water at the current water level at the time of the dredging. 5653.7. In the event of an unanticipated water level change, when necessary to protect fish and wildlife resources, the department may close areas that were otherwise opened for dredging and for which permits were issued pursuant to Section 5653. 5653.8. For purposes of Sections 5653 and 5653.3, "person" does not include a partnership, corporation, or other type of association. 5653.9. The department shall adopt regulations to carry out Section 5653 and may adopt regulations to carry out Sections 5653.3, 5653.5, and 5653.7. The regulations shall be adopted in accordance with the requirements of Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code and Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code. 5655. (a) In addition to the responsibilities imposed pursuant to Section 5651, the department may clean up or abate, or cause to be cleaned up or abated, the effects of any petroleum or petroleum product deposited or discharged in the waters of this state or deposited or discharged in any location onshore or offshore where the petroleum or petroleum product is likely to enter the waters of this state, order any person responsible for the deposit or discharge to clean up the petroleum or petroleum product or abate the effects of the deposit or discharge, and recover any costs incurred as a result of the cleanup or abatement from the responsible party. (b) No order shall be issued pursuant to this section for the cleanup or abatement of petroleum products in any sump, pond, pit, or lagoon used in conjunction with crude oil production that is in compliance with all applicable state and federal laws and regulations. (c) The department may issue an order pursuant to this section only if there is an imminent and substantial endangerment to human health or the environment and the order shall remain in effect only until any cleanup and abatement order is issued pursuant to Section 13304 of the Water Code. A regional water quality control board shall incorporate the department's order into the cleanup and abatement order issued pursuant to Section 13304 of the Water Code, unless the department's order is inconsistent with any more stringent requirement established in the cleanup and abatement order. Any action taken in compliance with the department's order is not a violation of any subsequent regional water quality control board cleanup and abatement order issued pursuant to Section 13304 of the Water Code. (d) For purposes of this section, "petroleum product" means oil in any kind or form, including, but not limited to, fuel oil, sludge, oil refuse, and oil mixed with waste other than dredged spoil. "Petroleum product" does not include any pesticide that has been applied for agricultural, commercial, or industrial purposes or has been applied in accordance with a cooperative agreement authorized by Section 116180 of the Health and Safety Code, that has not been discharged accidentally or for purposes of disposal, and whose application was in compliance with all applicable state and federal laws and regulations. 5656. Any recovery or settlement of money damages, including, but not limited to, civil penalties arising out of any civil action filed and maintained by the Attorney General in the enforcement of this article shall be deposited in the Fish and Wildlife Pollution Account in the Fish and Game Preservation Fund. 5669. For purposes of this chapter, "shellfish" means any bivalve mollusk. 5670. It is unlawful to take shellfish used or intended to be used for human consumption from any area from which it shall be determined, as provided in this article, that the taking of shellfish does or may constitute a menace to the lives or health of human beings. 5671. The State Department of Health Services may: (a) Examine any area from which shellfish may be taken. (b) Determine whether the area is subject to sewage contamination. (c) Determine whether the taking of shellfish from the area does or may constitute a menace to the lives or health of human beings. 5672. Upon the determination by the State Department of Health Services that the area is or may be subject to sewage contamination, and that the taking of shellfish from it does or may constitute a menace to the lives or health of human beings, it shall ascertain as accurately as it can the bounds of the contamination, and shall post notices on or in the area describing its bounds and prohibiting the taking of shellfish therefrom. The taking of shellfish from the area is unlawful after the completion of the publication of the notices as prescribed in this article. 5673. The fact of posting the notices shall be published once a week for four successive weeks in some newspaper of general circulation published in the county in which the contaminated area is situated, if there is such a newspaper, and if there is none, then in such a newspaper published in an adjoining county. 5674. The State Department of Health Services shall enforce the provisions of this article, and for that purpose the inspectors and employees of that agency may enter at all times upon public or private property upon which shellfish may be located. 5675. If examinations are conducted pursuant to this article for purposes of certifying the quality of shellfish-growing waters, certification of water quality shall be commenced within 30 days, and completed within three months of the filing of an application by an aquaculturist. 5700. Notwithstanding Sections 5670, 5672, 8341, and 9050, native and nonnative mollusks may be taken in Districts 12 and 13 and moved to other areas to be purified for human consumption under such rules and regulations as shall be established by the commission. Such regulations may include, but are not limited to, bag limits, methods of harvest, and provisions for public use. Mollusks taken under this section shall not be used for human consumption unless such use is approved by the State Department of Health Services. 5701. The State Department of Health Services may make sanitary surveys of mollusk-growing areas or may use sanitary surveys of mollusk-growing areas made by qualified state or county agencies, and based on such information may classify such areas for purposes of harvesting and moving mollusks which are to be purified for human consumption in accordance with Section 5700. The State Department of Health Services shall adopt such rules and regulations as are necessary to implement this section. 5701.5. If examinations are conducted by the State Department of Health Services pursuant to this article for purposes of certifying the quality of shellfish-growing waters, certification of water quality shall be commenced within 30 days and completed within six months of the filing of an application by an aquaculturist. 5702. Any person who moves any native mollusks taken under regulations of the commission from Districts 12 and 13 for purposes of purification for human consumption shall pay a royalty, as the commission may prescribe, of not less than two cents ($0.02) per pound of mollusks so taken. 5800. (a) It is unlawful to conduct any mining operations in the Trinity and Klamath River Fish and Game District between July 1st and November 30th except when the debris, substances, tailings or other effluent from such operations do not and cannot pass into the waters in that district. (b) It is unlawful between July 1st and November 30th to pollute, muddy, contaminate, or roil the waters of the Trinity and Klamath River Fish and Game District. It is unlawful between those dates to deposit in or cause, suffer, or procure to be deposited in, permit to pass into, or place where it can pass into, such waters, any debris, substance or tailings from hydraulic, placer, milling, or other mining operation affecting the clarity of such waters. The clarity of such waters shall be deemed affected when such waters at a point a distance of one mile below the confluence of the Klamath River and the Salmon River or at a point a distance of one mile below the confluence of the South Fork of the Trinity River and the Trinity River, contain fifty (50) parts per million, by weight, of suspended matter, not including vegetable matter in suspension and suspended matter occurring in the stream or streams due to an act of God. (c) It is unlawful, between July 1st and November 30th to carry on or operate any hydraulic mine of any kind on, along, or in any waters flowing into the Trinity and Klamath River District. However, nothing herein contained shall prevent the operation of a hydraulic mine where the tailings, substance, or debris, or other effluent therefrom, does not or will not pass into the waters of the Trinity and Klamath River Fish and Game District, between such dates, and any person, firm, or corporation engaged in hydraulic mining shall have the right until the fifteenth day of July to use water for the purpose of cleaning up. (d) Any structure or contrivance which causes or contributes, in whole or in part, to the condition, the causing of which is in this section prohibited, is a public nuisance, and any person, firm, or corporation maintaining or permitting it is guilty of maintaining a public nuisance, and it is the duty of the district attorney of the county where the condition occurs or the acts creating the public nuisance occur, to bring action to abate such nuisance. 5801. Section 5800 does not affect any other laws applying to the territory included in the Trinity and Klamath River Fish and Game District which relate to birds, mammals, and fish. 5802. Section 5800 does not apply to the construction, repair, or maintenance of public works by the Federal or State Government, or any political subdivision thereof. 5803. No provision of this article is a limitation on the authority of the State Water Resources Control Board or any California Regional Water Quality Control Board to adopt and enforce additional discharge requirements or prohibitions.