10 V.S.A. Section 8019 authorizes the Secretary to issue a Civil Complaint when the Secretary determines that a violation exists. A Civil Complaint identifies the applicable statute, regulation, permit or order; contains a description of the violation; identifies the minimum, maximum, and waiver penalty amounts for the applicable violation; and contains a section for pleading to the complaint. Proposed Civil Complaints are posted for public comment via this website for 30 days.

When the comment period expires and comments have been considered, the Civil Complaint is issued to the respondent. The Civil Complaint is also simultaneously filed with the Environmental Court, along with any written comments received during the public comment period, and posted for public notice on this website. The Court then holds the Civil Complaint for 14 days to allow any person who filed written comments during the public comment period to file a motion for permissive intervention. If a motion is filed, the Court may hold one or more hearings to determine whether to permit intervention or to evaluate the claims within the motion. A respondent must deliver a plea to the Environmental Court (admitted, no contest, or denied) within 15 days of the issuance of the Complaint, otherwise a default judgment will be entered against the respondent.

If a respondent requests a hearing on the Civil Complaint, the Environmental Court will schedule the matter for trial.

By issuing a Civil Complaint, the Secretary cannot seek an additional penalty for the violation specified in the complaint if the waiver penalty is paid, judgment is entered after trial or appeal, or a default judgment is entered. However, the Secretary may issue additional civil complaints or take other enforcement action authorized by law, including a monetary penalty when a violation is continuing or is repeated. It may also bring an enforcement action to obtain injunctive relief or remediation, and may recover the costs of bringing that action and any economic benefit the respondent obtained as a result of the underlying violation as authorized by law.

The Agency of Natural Resources Civil Complaints beginning in 2012 can be seen via this page.

There are two ways to search for Civil Complaints:

Civil Complaints listing by year:

Click to view list of documents

2012 Civil Complaints