U.S. Water News Online
MISSOULA, Mont. -- State environmental regulators have ordered the developer of a controversial subdivision along Rock Creek to pay $23,500 in penalties for discharging wastewater into the Clark Fork River.
The state Department of Environmental Quality said LEMB Co. LLC, based in Oregon, violated state water quality laws when it discharged sediment-laden wastewater into the river on three separate occasions last spring.
The discharges occurred during excavation of a pond on the 200-acre parcel where LEMB's owner, Michael Barnes, has said he wants to build a 36-lot subdivision.
The violations were documented by a Missoula County sanitarian and local residents, who twice took pictures of turbid water in the river caused by discharge from an irrigation ditch on Barnes' property, according to the violation notice.
Barnes doesn't disagree with the state about the discharge and "intends to take full responsibility for the error," said Alan McCormick, LEMB's Missoula-based attorney.
"LEMB Company acknowledges that the contractor it hired to construct the pond mistakenly directed water from the excavation site into the Clark Fork," McCormick said.
He said once notified of the violation, LEMB "took prompt action to correct the mistake, and no further discharges have occurred."
He said the violation notice did, however, contain some factual errors, and the company plans to discuss those with the state.
"Depending on how willing DEQ is to discuss those errors will determine whether or not there will be an appeal," McCormick said.
Barnes' subdivision plans for the property have been met with opposition from neighbors and others interested in the future of Rock Creek, a popular trout stream.
John Menson, president of the Rock Creek Protective Association, applauded DEQ's decision to require the company to pay a penalty.
"The state recognizes this issue isn't a temporary problem," Menson said.
His group sued LEMB last spring, alleging the company was circumventing county subdivision regulations, digging in the floodplain without a permit and violating state environmental laws. That suit has since been dropped.
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