The General Assembly hereby finds and declares that protection of the environment is enhanced by the public’s voluntary compliance with environmental laws and that the public will benefit from incentives to identify and remedy environmental compliance issues. It is further declared that limited expansion of the protection against disclosure will encourage such voluntary compliance and […]
As used in this subchapter: (1) “Commission” means the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission; (2) [Repealed.] (3) (A) “Environmental audit” means a voluntary, internal, and comprehensive evaluation of one (1) or more facilities or an activity at one (1) or more facilities regulated under this chapter, or federal, regional, or local counterparts or extensions […]
(a) In order to encourage owners and operators of facilities and persons conducting other activities regulated under this chapter or its federal counterparts or extensions, both to conduct voluntary internal environmental audits of their compliance programs and management systems and to assess and improve compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements, an environmental audit privilege is […]
(a) The privilege described in § 8-1-303 does not apply to the extent that: (1) It is waived expressly by the owner or operator of the facility that prepared or caused to be prepared the environmental audit report; (2) The owner or operator of a facility or person conducting an activity seeks to introduce an […]
The privilege described in § 8-1-303 does not apply to the following: (1) Documents, communications, data, reports, or other information that must be collected, developed, maintained, reported, or otherwise made available to the public or a regulatory agency under: (A) Federal or state law or extensions thereof; (B) A rule or standard adopted by the […]
The parties to a legal action may at any time stipulate to the entry of an order that directs that specific information contained in an environmental audit report is or is not subject to the privilege provided under § 8-1-303.
(a) In a civil or administrative proceeding, a court of record or administrative tribunal, after an in-camera review, shall require disclosure of material for which the privilege described in § 8-1-303 is asserted if the court or administrative tribunal determines one (1) of the following: (1) The privilege is asserted for a fraudulent purpose; (2) […]
The privilege created by § 8-1-303 does not apply to criminal investigations or proceedings. When an environmental audit report is obtained, reviewed, or used in a criminal proceeding, the privilege created by § 8-1-303 applicable to administrative or civil proceedings is not waived or eliminated.
(a) A party asserting the environmental audit privilege under § 8-1-303 has the burden of proving the privilege, including if there is evidence of noncompliance with federal or state law or extensions thereof, and proof that appropriate efforts to achieve compliance were promptly initiated and pursued with reasonable diligence. (b) A party seeking disclosure under […]
Upon making a determination under § 8-1-307, the court of record or administrative tribunal may compel disclosure of only those parts of an environmental audit report that are relevant to issues in dispute in the proceeding.
Nothing in this subchapter may limit, waive, or abrogate: (1) The scope of any statutory or common law privilege, including the work product doctrine and the attorney-client privilege; or (2) The rights of the public as provided in the Freedom of Information Act of 1967, § 25-19-101 et seq.
