The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday announced a settlement with Bali Hai Villas Ltd. that includes $63,000 in penalties for failing to comply with Clean Water Act stormwater control requirements at its condominium construction project in Princeville. “It’s unfortunate that for
The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday announced a settlement with Bali Hai Villas Ltd. that includes $63,000 in penalties for failing to comply with Clean Water Act stormwater control requirements at its condominium construction project in Princeville.
“It’s unfortunate that for whatever reason they neglected to have their pollution controls in place,” said Dean Higuchi, an EPA spokesman for Hawai‘i. “We went out there once before and found similar violations. We tried to work with them.”
The company failed to adequately and completely implement stormwater pollution controls outlined in its stormwater pollution control plan at the construction site, an EPA news release states.
Construction work has since been completed at the site.
“As this company was previously cited for similar violations, they are paying a significantly larger penalty this time,” said Alexis Strauss, Water Division director for the EPA’s Pacific Southwest region, in a statement. “Construction projects must have pollution controls in place. Erosion and sedimentation cause severe pollution problems for our coastal waters, coral reefs and marine ecosystems.”
In September 2007, EPA inspectors found the company had failed to install adequate control measures to prevent soil and sediment-filled stormwater from running off the site. Specifically, the inspectors cited deficiencies with the site’s sediment trap, silt fences, litter control and other measures to control stormwater runoff.
The EPA then issued an order in January 2008 that required the company to install soil stabilization and erosion and sediment controls at all locations of exposed soil and at locations where stormwater runoff could leave the project site. The company also needed to repair its silt fence, protect soil stockpiles from runoff, provide a contained and lined concrete wash area and clean up litter on the site. The company has complied with EPA’s enforcement order, according to the press release.
In 2004, EPA and Department of Health inspectors found similar violations at the site, and the company agreed to correct the violations and paid a fine of $15,000.
“We really encourage companies to look at their operations, talk to us about how to control erosion and do it in advance,” Higuchi said. “Our goal is to make sure they take the proper measures.”
Stormwater runoff is essentially the rainwater that runs off the roads, he said.
“Construction sites disturb a lot of soil,” Higuchi said. “It creates a situation where you have the potential for sediment runoff. If left uncontrolled, it could make its way into the marine environment and degrade coastal waterways and damage ecosystems.”
Bali Hai Villas had no comment at press time.
For more information on stormwater discharges, visit www.epa.gov/region09/water/npdes/stormwater.html
• Nathan Eagle, staff writer/assistant editor, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or neagle@kauaipubco.com
