State Codes and Statutes
Statutes > Rhode-island > Title-23 > Chapter-23-19-14 > 23-19-14-10SECTION 23-19.14-10
§ 23-19.14-10 Settlement authorities.– (a) The state may, through June 30, 2007, enter into an agreement with anyperson to perform any response action if the state determines that that actionwill be done properly by the person. Whenever practicable and in the publicinterest as determined by the state, the state shall act to facilitateagreements under this section that are in the public interest and consistentwith applicable laws and regulations in order to expedite effective remedialaction and minimize litigation. The department of environmental management mustbe a party to any settlement agreement entered under the authority of thechapter. The department of environmental management shall not accept newproposals for settlement agreements after December 31, 2006; provided, however,that an amendment to a settlement agreement that was proposed prior to December31, 2006, will not be considered a new settlement agreement.
(b) Whenever the state has entered into an agreement underthis section, the liability to the state under this chapter of each party tothe agreement including any future liability to the state, arising from therelease or threatened release that is the subject of the agreement shall belimited as provided in the agreement pursuant to a covenant not to sue. Thefinal covenant not to sue may, at the discretion of the state, be transferredto successors or assigns that are not otherwise found to be a responsible partyunder § 23-19.14-6. The covenant not to sue may provide that futureliability to the state of a settling party under the agreement may be limitedto the same proportion as that established in the original settlement agreement.
