Michael S. Regan 16th Administrator, United States Environmental Protection Agency | Official Website
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that PotlatchDeltic Land & Lumber, LLC, a company based in St. Maries, Idaho, has been fined $225,000 for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act. The company's operations are located within the Coeur d’ Alene Tribe’s reservation and discharge into a section of the St. Joe River which is considered Tribal waters.
The St. Joe River, flowing into Lake Coeur d’ Alene, serves as a critical habitat for bull trout. Under the Clean Water Act, PotlatchDeltic is obligated to comply with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits.
In March 2017, an EPA inspection was conducted to evaluate PotlatchDeltic’s compliance with its permits. The inspection revealed numerous stormwater violations at the company's facilities including failure to implement corrective actions following continued benchmark exceedances and lack of adequate stormwater pollution prevention plan controls.
Stormwater runoff from lumber facilities containing zinc and other pollutants can cause significant harm to rivers, lakes and coastal waters when not treated and discharged directly into nearby water bodies.
PotlatchDeltic has agreed to extensive remedies to achieve and maintain compliance with its Clean Water Act permits. These include facility improvements, construction of a new filtration system and combining its outfalls.
Furthermore, PotlatchDeltic has committed to perform two mitigation actions designed to protect and enhance habitat for trout and salmon in Hangman Creek on its property and within the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s reservation. Specifically, PotlatchDeltic will place a Conservation Easement on its property that will provide 100-year, no timber harvest stream buffers of 75-feet along more than 17,800 feet of shoreline for five streams, protecting about 61.25 acres. Additionally, PotlatchDeltic agreed to replace four road culverts on its property that are currently blocking fish passage and limiting access to spawning habitat.
EPA Region 10 Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Director Ed Kowalski said, “Industrial facilities must have stormwater pollution controls in place to protect our waters. We are pleased the company took swift action to improve their operations and prevent pollution — actions that will ultimately help our water quality in the Pacific Northwest.”
