08/04/2010 // West Palm Beach, FL, USA // Tara Monks // Tara Monks
Nampa, ID – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday, July 3, 2010 that Happy Valley Dairy, of Nampa, ID agreed to pay penalties for alleged Clean Water Act violations related to a construction project at the dairy. According to the EPA, the company will pay a penalty of $14,750 for storm water violations.
The violations were found in April 2010 during a joint EPA and Corps of Engineers inspections resultant of a citizen’s complaint. An investigation into alleged wetlands violations at the farm continues.
The Clean Water act requires owners and general contractors at construction sites larger than one acre to apply for coverage under a Construction General Permit (CGP). The permit limits storm water runoff. The dairy exposed soils to erosion in an approximately 10-acre area. The project also removed vegetation from the banks of Indian Creek.
Upon investigation, EPA found the following violations:
Failure to obtain coverage under the CGP.
Failure to plan and describe storm water activities in a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan.
Failure to conduct and document results of regular storm water self inspections.
Failure to install and maintain the required erosion and sediment controls.
The CGP’s central requirement demands, “Each operator must design, install and maintain storm water controls to prevent construction area runoff from polluting nearby streams and lakes,” according to the EPA announcement.
Kim Ogle, manager of EPA’s Compliance Unit in Seattle stated, “If a facility is doing construction work like this on an area that is more than an acre, they will need coverage under this permit. Developers that fail to obtain or follow these permit conditions will face fines.”
According to the release, many of Idaho’s waters are labeled as impaired or not meeting water quality standards due to sediment pollution.
Media Information:
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Url: http://TaraMonks.visionsmartnews.com/epa-fines-idaho-farm-for-clean-water-act-violations_1730.html
