EPA violations settled by ITD

SANDPOINT - The Idaho Transportation Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency quietly settled allegations that the federal Clean Water Act was violated during construction of the U.S. Highway 95 bypass in 2009.

The agency sought $65,000 in penalties against ITD and lead Sand Creek Byway contractor Parsons RCI. Violations included a failure to stabilize disturbed portions of the construction site and a failure to implement erosion controls.

An EPA Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance report obtained by the Bonner County Daily Bee indicates the agency entered into a consent agreement and final order to settle the matter. The terms of the settlement required ITD and Parsons to pay a penalty of $15,000 each, resulting in a total combined penalty of $30,000.

The settlement was reached in April 2010, according to the OECA report.

Although EPA issued a press release announcing its intentions to seek penalties against ITD and Parsons, the settlement went unannounced.

Mark McIntyre, a spokesman for EPA's regional office in Seattle, said press releases are typically issued at the onset of an enforcement action or at its conclusion.

"We either do it at the complaint stage or at the settlement stage," he said.

EPA filed a seven-count administrative complaint against ITD and Parsons. It alleged that stabilization measures had not been initiated for piles of dirt in portions of the construction site. The complaint further alleged that sedimentation countermeasures had not been employed for the shoreline extension north of Cedar Street Bridge and the project's stormwater pollution prevention plan had not been updated.

EPA classified the violations as "serious" in the complaint.

"Given the close proximity to the creek and the amount of exposed soils along the length of the creek, the potential to cause significant environmental harm was high in this case. The potential for environmental harm is exacerbated by the wet winter weather in which the Respondents have worked," Edward Kowalski, director of EPA's regional Office of Compliance and Enforcement, said in the complaint.

There have been no subsequent violations at the bypass construction site, according to Chae Park, a member of EPA's Region 10 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System compliance staff.