POLICY

DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS ON

LICENSED ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANTS

By State Rule, PSTD has the responsibility to monitor environmentalconsultant activities at regulated, leaking petroleum storage tank sites and to take disciplinary actions relative to consultant’s licenses, if necessary. With good cause, the PSTD may deny, suspend, refuse to renew, revoke a license or reprimand any Oklahoma Licensed Environmental Consultant.

The following disciplinary policy deals with Licensed EnvironmentalConsultants who establish a history of repeated deficiencies or violations in the performance of required work and/or submitted regulatory reports:

  • Observed licensee violations that may be subject to PSTD disciplinary action will be recorded by PSTD Staff Hydros for each consultant with whom he/she works.
  • Recorded deficiencies will be assigned to one, or more, of the following five major deficiency/violation categories: 1) Regulatory; 2) Unprofessional Practices; 3) Unacceptable Field Practices; 4) Improper Submittals; and, 5) Fraudulent Activities. A folder will be made up for each category and contained in a “Consultant Deficiencies” File which will be maintained on the OCC Server (F-Drive), accessible to all PSTD Staff.
  • Deficiencies or violationsrecorded for all licensed consultants will be reviewed by the PSTD Director and Technical Manager and, if required, the Fund Administrator, every sixmonths.
  • Should the review process identifya violation or a repetitive occurrence of a deficiency/violation that warrants disciplinary action(s),the appropriate level of disciplinary action, as defined below,will be determined during the review and applied to theresponsible licensee.
  • Levels of disciplinary actions against licensees are:
  • Private Reprimand – Director will call offending consultant to his office for a private discussion addressing the previous six month’s recorded deficiencies.
  • Public Reprimand – Director will prepare a letter of reprimand to the licensee, addressing deficiency issues recorded the previous six months. The letter of reprimand will provide the licensee an opportunity to formally dispute alledged deficiency(ies). The reprimand letter, licensee’s response, all recourse actions following licensee rebuttal, if any, and the Director’s final decision(s) will be placed in the Environmental Consultant’s Fileandmaintained by PSTD.
  • License Suspension – Director actionspertaining to the suspension of a consultant’s license are addressed under OCC Rule OAC 165:29-3-90(h):“Prior to any license suspension, revocation, or refusal to renew, the Director will have the matter investigated and a report prepared for his or her consideration. If the Director elects to pursue suspension, revocation, or refusal to renew, the Licensee will be officially notified by the Director by Notice sent to the Licensee by certified mail/return receipt requested. The Notice will state the date and time of the hearing scheduled before a Commission Administrative Law Judge. The burden of proof of violations of this chapter, as well as adherence to applicable State law, rests upon the PSTD.”
  • License Revocation – Director actionspertaining to the revocation of a consultant’s license are addressed under OCC Rule OAC165:29-3-90(h), as above.
  • Refusal to Renew License – Director actionspertaining to a refusal to renew a consultant’s license are addressed under OCC Rule OAC165:29-3-90(h), as above.