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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 14, 1995
95-194
CONTACT:
Kathie Emmett (360) 407-6281
Mary Getchell(360) 407-6157
ECOLOGY APPEALS DECISION ON $250,000 PENALTY FOR RAW SEWAGE DISCHARGE
OLYMPIA--The Washington State Department of Ecology appealed a recent Pollution Control Hearings Board decision on a $250,000 penalty to Ketron Island Enterprises, Inc. of Seattle. In October of 1994 Ecology fined Ketron Island Enterprises and Gary Lundgren, the company’s owner, for discharging raw sewage from its malfunctioning wastewater treatment plant onto Ketron Island in Pierce County and into the Puget Sound.
"The company’s lack of sewage management practices was one of the most flagrant environmental abuses I’ve seen,” said Kathie Emmett, an Ecology water quality program inspector. "Raw sewage sludge surrounded the plant on the island and flowed down toward the beach to the Sound--a potential threat to human health and the environment."
In October of this year the Pollution Control Hearings Board, the state’s governor appointed board to hear disputed environmental decisions, ruled in favor of Ecology’s penalty to Ketron Island Enterprises, but it denied the civil penalty against Lundgren. However, before the Pollution Control Hearings Board heard the case, Gary Lundgren sold Ketron Island Enterprises to Aquatic Ventures for $250,000. The assets of the wastewater treatment plant company are now known as Ketron Island Utilities. Therefore, when the Pollution Control Hearings Board upheld Ecology’s penalty to Ketron Island Enterprises, the company’s assets had been sold and it was no longer solvent. That meant, Ecology’s $250,000 penalty was to a company with no money. Ecology is appealing the board’s decision that denied the civil penalty to Gary Lundgren, because Ecology believes Lundgren is liable for the pollution his company caused.
"In essence, the hearings board said--yes--Ketron Island Enterprises was at fault and caused damaged to the environment. However, because the company is penniless the penalty has little meaning,” said Mike Llewelyn, Ecology’s water quality program manager. "We are appealing because we believe Gary Lundgren knowingly and willingly polluted Puget Sound. And, he should pay a penalty and take responsibility.”
At the time of sale, the new utility company, Ketron Island Utilities agreed to correct the sewage problems on the island. However, little has been done. The abandoned treatment plant is being used as a sewage holding tank and the homeowners are being charged $300 a month to have it pumped. A collection system and drain field the community was promised have never materialized.
Ecology appealed to Thurston County Superior Court in late November. The court is expected to hear the case within the next two months.
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
