Posted on November 27, 2018
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reached an agreement Monday with the Saratoga Springs Owners Association, Inc. and Cross Marine Projects, Inc. in a lawsuit that was filed Dec. 4, 2017, in Utah’s U.S. District Court.
The lawsuit sought to have the defendants restore or mitigate alleged damages to Utah Lake wetlands caused at their own expense and also pay civil penalties.
On Monday, a consent decree was filed in the district court resolving alleged unpermitted dredge and fill activities and damages to wetlands at a Utah Lake marina.
Under the terms of the agreement, the public was given a 30-day comment period. No comments were received.
The original suit claimed that the owners association and Cross Marine discharged pollutants, including dirt, rocks and sand, into Utah Lake without a permit sometime between September 2013 and February 2014.
Equipment such as track hoes and front-end loaders were used to discharge the materials, the complaint stated.
Under the terms of the consent decree, the owners association and Cross Marine will restore and enhance more than seven acres of wetlands and pay a civil penalty of $150,000.
“The EPA is pleased to see these long-standing allegations resolved and looks forward to the successful completion of wetlands restoration and enhancement projects at Utah Lake,” said EPA Regional Administrator Doug Benevento in a press release. “Dredging and filling in navigable waters, like the marina expansion at issue in this case, requires a Clean Water Act permit to ensure needed projects are carried out with minimal impacts to waters, wetlands, and aquatic ecosystems.”
Utah Lake is a water of the U.S. and is habitat for projects associated with an Endangered Fish Recovery Program, established in 1999, to protect the June Sucker, a fish that naturally occurs only in Utah Lake and spawns only in the lower Provo River, the EPA press release said.
The State of Utah has designated Utah Lake as “impaired” for its failure to meet water quality standards.
Under the Clean Water Act, dredge and fill activities conducted in waters of the U.S. and adjacent wetlands are subject to a permitting program operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The permitting process is intended to allow necessary work to occur, while ensuring it is completed in a manner that prevents and minimizes impacts to water quality and aquatic resources.
Source: Daily Herald
