33 U.S.C. § 502 : US Code - Section 502: Alteration, removal, or repair of bridge or accessory obstructions to navigation

Search 33 U.S.C. § 502 : US Code - Section 502: Alteration, removal, or repair of bridge or accessory obstructions to navigation

(a) Criminal penalties for violation; alteration or removal
requirements; notice and hearing; specification of changes; time
for compliance; notice to United States attorney; misdemeanor;
fine; new offenses
Whenever the Secretary of Transportation shall have good reason
to believe that any railroad or other bridge over any of the
navigable waterways of the United States is an unreasonable
obstruction to the free navigation of such waters on account of
insufficient height, width of span, or otherwise, or where there is
difficulty in passing the draw opening or the draw span of such
bridge by rafts, steamboats, or other water craft, it shall be the
duty of the said Secretary, first giving the parties reasonable
opportunity to be heard, to give notice to the persons or
corporations owning or controlling such bridge so to alter the same
as to render navigation through or under it reasonably free, easy,
and unobstructed; and in giving such notice he shall specify the
changes that are required to be made, and shall prescribe in each
case a reasonable time in which to make them. If at the end of such
time the alteration has not been made, the Secretary of
Transportation shall forthwith notify the United States attorney
for the district in which such bridge is situated, to the end that
the criminal proceedings hereinafter in this section mentioned may
be taken. If the persons, corporation, or association owning or
controlling any railroad or other bridge shall, after receiving
notice to that effect, as hereinbefore required, from the Secretary
of Transportation and within the time prescribed by him willfully
fail or refuse to remove the same or to comply with the lawful
order of the Secretary of the Army in the premises, such persons,
corporation, or association shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor
and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding
$5,000, and every month such persons, corporation, or association
shall remain in default in respect to the removal or alteration of
such bridge shall be deemed a new offense, and subject the persons,
corporation, or association so offending to the penalties above
prescribed.
(b) Proper repair requirement
No owner or operator of any bridge, drawbridge, or causeway shall
endanger, unreasonably obstruct, or make hazardous the free
navigation of any navigable water of the United States by reason of
the failure to keep the bridge, drawbridge, or causeway and any
accessory works in proper repair.
(c) Civil penalties for violation; separate offenses; notice and
hearing; assessment, collection, and remission; civil actions
Whoever violates any provision of this section, or any order
issued under this section, shall be liable to a civil penalty of
not more than $5,000 for a violation occurring in 2004; $10,000 for
a violation occurring in 2005; $15,000 for a violation occurring in
2006; $20,000 for a violation occurring in 2007; and $25,000 for a
violation occurring in 2008 and any year thereafter. Each day a
violation continues shall be deemed a separate offense. No penalty
may be assessed under this subsection until the person charged is
given notice and an opportunity for a hearing on the charge. The
Secretary of Transportation may assess and collect any civil
penalty incurred under this subsection and, in his discretion, may
remit, mitigate, or compromise any penalty until the matter is
referred to the Attorney General. If a person against whom a civil
penalty is assessed under this subsection fails to pay that
penalty, an action may be commenced in the district court of the
United States for any district in which the violation occurs for
such penalty.