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VACATION CHARTERS, LTD. TO PAY $10,000 PENALTY TO SETTLE WETLANDS COMPLAINT

Release Date: 9/18/2000
Contact Information: Bonnie Smith, (215) 814-5543

Bonnie Smith, 215-814-5543

KIDDER, Pa. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that Vacation Charters, Ltd. of Kidder Township, Carbon Co., Pa., has agreed to pay a $10,000 penalty to settle a complaint that the company unlawfully discharged fill material into protected wetlands. As part of the settlement, the company neither admitted nor denied liability for the alleged violation.

EPA’s September 1997 complaint alleged that between October 1995 and October 1996, the company filled about 3/4 acre of wetlands at the Split Rock Country Club without a required permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The company applied for the permit after the alleged violation, and has mitigated the environmental harm by creating an even larger wetlands area.

Under the Clean Water Act, a Army Corps of Engineers permit is required before dredged or fill material may be discharged into wetlands areas. The permit requirement is designed to minimize the destruction of wetlands, which serve a number of critical environmental and economic functions -- including flood control, water filtration, and wildlife habitat.