Tag:
Clean Water Act
Cheshire, CT
News
NJ Business Admits To Polluting Cheshire Brook, Causing Fish Kill — Fined $1M: DOJ
A New Jersey company has been ordered to pay a $1 million fine for violating the Clean Water Act after an unauthorized discharge of a hazardous material into a Connecticut waterway killed over 150 fish and contaminated the local ecosystem, federal authorities said. National Water Main Cleaning Company (NWMCC), in Newark, New Jersey, was sentenced in federal court for knowingly releasing uncured geopolymer mortar into Cuff Brook while refurbishing a culvert pipe in Cheshire, the US Attorney for Connecticut said. The project, which took place in July 2019, was supposed to follow s…
Atlantic City, NJ
News
Atlantic City Officials Mismanaged Stormwater System, EPA Says
Atlantic City will pay $80,000 in fines and to make upgrades after federal officials said the city mismanaged its stormwater system. Atlantic City will pay a $20,000 penalty for Clean Water Act violations, the Environmental Protection Agency said in a news release on Wednesday, Sept. 18. The city also agreed to spend $60,000 to make its stormwater infrastructure more resilient to the impacts of climate change. An EPA review found several issues with the sewer system that discharges stormwater into bays and the Atlantic Ocean. "This settlement will lead to less pollution…
Mount Vernon, NY
News
Mount Vernon Let Raw Sewage Flow In Sewer System, Discharge Into Rivers: Feds
A city in Westchester will have to take action after failing to comply with environmental requirements and allowing raw sewage to enter sewers, causing it to be discharged into nearby rivers, federal officials said. The US Department of Justice announced on Tuesday, Sept. 19 that both the United States and the State of New York entered into a civil Consent Decree with Mount Vernon to resolve ongoing litigation regarding sewage entering the city's sewers. According to federal officials, the city failed to comply with Clean Water Act requirements for municipal storm sewers, causin…
Jersey City, NJ
News
Ex-Workers: Ferry Company Dumped Raw Sewage, More Into Hudson, Manhattan Waterways
Two former employees have accused New York Waterway of dumping raw sewage, oil, fuel, batteries and other waste into the Hudson River, Raritan Bay and other waterways surrounding Manhattan “for years.” After issuing dumping complaints to the company, EPA investigators returned weeks later to find ferry bathrooms that were under investigation “either locked or removed entirely,” a federal whistle-blower lawsuit filed by former NY Waterway fuelers and overnight mechanics Rafi Khatchikian and Ivan Torres alleges. “NY Waterway cynically put out-of-order signs on bathrooms and even removed toile…
Worcester, MA
News
Septage Co. Accused Of Dumping Waste Into Town's Sewers Is Fined $500K
A Massachusetts sewage disposal company has agreed to pay up to $500,000, among other concessions, to settle allegations that it illegally dumped excrement and waste into the public sewer system. On Friday, Nov. 13, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced the settlement between the state and Midstate Sewerage of Millbury. The AG had sued the disposal company in 2018 alleging it had violated the state’s Clean Water Act. Midstate is registered to Thomas M. Stratford with Peter C. Stratford as president, according to the business license filed with the Massachusetts Secretary of S…
Mount Vernon, NY
News
Court Order Requires Mount Vernon To Address Polluting Storm Sewers
The federal government is forcing Mount Vernon to address its long-broken sewer system, which has sent raw sewage into city homes, the Bronx and Hutchinson rivers for years. A federal district court is ordering the city to bring its polluting storm sewer system into compliance with the Clean Water Act after ignoring two previous EPA administrative orders to make the required fixes. The city's sewage system includes more than 195 miles of sewer lines, 3,100 catch-basins, and 3,000 manholes which run through Mount Vernon. Since the problems were discovered, the city has been fined millions of…
Newburgh, NY
News
Feds Sue Orange County Horse Racing Training Center Over Violations
The federal government has levied charges against the owners of a Hudson Valley horse racing training center for allegedly violating the Federal Clean Water Act. It is alleged that from 2007 to 2017, the owners and operators of Mark Ford Stables in Wallkill destroyed existing federal wetlands and rerouted streams in the course of building a horse racing training center at both properties,” U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said. In addition, the owners allegedly have operated a concentrated animal feeding operation without a permit, allowing horse wash water and process wastewater to be discha…
Armonk, NY
Lifestyle
Feds Invited To Speak On Hutchinson, Bronx River Discharges In Westchester
With Mount Vernon facing millions of dollars in fines for violating the Clean Water Act, Mayor Richard Thomas has invited members of the federal government to appear at Wednesday’s City Council meeting. The City of Mount Vernon is facing a lawsuit from the EPA and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York for allegedly discharging raw sewage and other pollutants from its storm sewer system into the Hutchinson and Bronx Rivers. The fines may top $100 million. Officials announced the lawsuit last month, claiming that Mount Vernon has failed to comply with the Clean Water Act sto…
Mount Vernon, NY
News
Feds Sue Mount Vernon For Hutchinson, Bronx River Raw Sewage Discharges
The City of Mount Vernon is facing a lawsuit from the EPA and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York for allegedly discharging raw sewage and other pollutants from its storm sewer system into the Hutchinson and Bronx Rivers. Officials announced the lawsuit on Thursday, claiming that Mount Vernon has failed to comply with the Clean Water Act storm sewer permit requirements designed to prevent raw sewage and other illicit pollutants from flowing from the city’s storm sewer system into the rivers. The discharges have allegedly been going on since January 2012. According to Ge…
Mount Vernon, NY
Politics
Looming DEC Fines Lead To City Hall Strife In Mount Vernon
MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. - With the city facing thousands - and possibly millions - of dollars in fines, Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Thomas says some outgoing politicians have left “some tough decisions behind for their successors.” Thomas said that at the final Board of Estimate and Contract meeting of 2017, former Comptroller Maureen Walker and City Council President failed to properly pay for a $55,000 fine that was imposed by the Department of Environmental Conservation on the city for polluting the Hutchinson River Parkway from its public works yard. According to Thomas, “the outgoing Comptr…
