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Public Notice: Hotel Nikko Expansion Project, Tamuning, Guam; Proposed Settlement of Clean Water Act Class II Administrative Penalty and Opportunity to Comment

How to Comment

Comments accepted through: 05/29/2019

Please provide your full name and mailing address. Please submit your comment in writing stating that you are providing comments on the proposed assessment of a penalty pursuant to CWA § 309(g)(4) and intend to participate in the proceeding. Please include the following Docket Number CWA-09-2019-0033 with your comments.

All comments must be submitted to the Regional Hearing Clerk (address below), within 30 days of the date of this public notice (see 40 C.F.R. § 22.45(b)). If the 30th day of the comment period falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or federal holiday, the deadline shall be extended to the next business day. EPA will consider all comments received within this 30-day period before issuance of the final order. Please note that 40 C.F.R. Part 22, the federal regulations governing these proceedings, can be found online at www.ecfr.gov.

Name, Mailing Address, Telephone Number, and Email of Regional Hearing Clerk
Steven Armsey (r9hearingclerk@epa.gov)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region IX
75 Hawthorne Street (ORC-1)
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 972-3919

Consent Agreement and Final Order

Publish Date: 04/30/2019

Summary

In accordance with Section 309(g) of the Clean Water Act (CWA), 33 U.S.C. § 1319(g), and the Consolidated Rules of Practice at 40 C.F.R. Part 22, notice is hereby given of a proposed settlement, recorded in a Consent Agreement and Final Order (Proposed CA/FO), between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9 (EPA or Complainant), and Asanuma Kokuba Joint Venture and Nippo USA Inc. (Respondents) to resolve the following civil administrative penalty proceeding under Section 309(g).

On April 24, 2019, pursuant to 40 C.F.R. § 22.13(b) and 22.18(b)(2) and (3), Complainant and the Respondents entered into a Proposed CA/FO to simultaneously commence and conclude this CWA Class II civil administrative penalty proceeding. The Proposed CA/FO requires the Respondents to pay the United States a penalty of one-hundred twenty-nine thousand and forty-eight dollars. Payment of this penalty will resolve EPA’s allegations that the Respondents violated CWA Section 301(a), 33 U.S.C. § 1311(a), on at least one hundred eleven (111) days by discharging pollutants from a point source into waters of the United States, including the territorial seas, without NPDES permit authorization.

In the Matter of: Asanuma Kokuba Joint Venture and Nippo USA, Inc. (Tsubaki Tower Project)
Docket No. CWA-09-2019-0033

Complainant: Amy C. Miller, Acting Director, Enforcement Division, U.S. EPA, Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, California 94105.

Respondent: Asanuma Kokuba Joint Venture and Nippo USA, Inc. P.O. Box 22108 GMF Barrigada, Guam 96921

Description of Business or Activity Conducted by the Respondents: The Respondents were conducting a ~$100M hotel expansion project that is greater than one acre and near Tumon Bay in Guam.

Summary of Alleged Violations: EPA found that the Hotel Nikko Expansion project was operating without coverage under EPA’s 2017 Construction General Permit. During an inspection by EPA on September 14, 2017, EPA observed rebar stockpiles that did not have adequately maintained Best Management Practices (“BMPs”), multiple construction debris piles on-Site, portable toilets without adequate containment or stabilization, a non-stormwater discharge flowing off-Site, a concrete washout area at the Staging Area that did not have adequate control measures, and multiple stockpiles of waste materials near the perimeter of the Staging Area without cover or containment.

Proposed Penalty: $129,048

Applicant or Respondent

Asanuma Kokuba Joint Venture and Nippo USA, Inc.
P.O. Box 22108 GMF
Barrigada, GU 96921