DEP fines Greene company $275,000
The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) fined a trustee of Lamar Prospect Trust more than $275,000 for polluting streams, destroying wetlands and relocating nearly a mile of stream in Franklin Township, involving a proposed commercial development.
The civil penalty, which was issued on Dec. 17, is part of a consent order and agreement to resolve violations of the Clean Streams Law and the Dam Safety and Encroachments Act. The order also puts David C. Hook on a schedule to replace or restore the impacted natural resources, including about three acres of wetlands.
“We have measures in Pennsylvania to ensure construction and development occurs in a manner that limits impacts to our natural resources,” said George Jugovic Jr., the DEP’s Southwest Region director “Anyone who flagrantly ignores those measures will be subject to a fine and be made to correct the violations.”
Hook did the work on 97.4 acres of land that Lamar Prospect Trust owns near the intersection of Interstate 79 and Route 21.
In early October 2009, Hook submitted an erosion and sediment control (ESC) plan to the Greene County Conservation District. The conservation district advised Hook that he would need a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit from the DEP because the proposed commercial development project encompassed more than 30 acres. He withdrew the original ESC plan and submitted a new ESC plan for less than five acres of earthwork to construct a building and parking area, eliminating the need for an NPDES permit.
In late October 2009, the DEP and the conservation district responded to a complaint about work being done at the site and found that Hook had cleared more than 30 acres of land, destroyed wetlands, relocated streams and failed to install adequate erosion and sediment controls that resulted in sediment pollution to unnamed tributaries of South Fork Ten Mile Creek, according to the DEP.
The DEP issued two notices of violation for that work and two compliance orders after discovering additional unauthorized work at the construction site in November 2009.
Through the consent order and agreement, Hook agreed to pay the $275,000 penalty, submit all required permit applications and restoration plans, begin restoring the site within 30 days of the DEP’s restoration plan approval and monitor all restored wetlands and streams for at least five years.
He submitted the required NPDES permit application and paid the first penalty installment. Hook has until Feb. 1 to submit the resource restoration plan for the DEP’s review.
In February 2010, the DEP issued a notice of violation to Franklin Township for giving Lamar Prospect Trust building permits for the site without an NPDES permit or approved ESC plan. The township then issued a “stop-work order” and summary citation to Lamar Prospect Trust for failure to comply with state environmental laws.