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Judge orders Homer man to undo environmental damage
Release Date: 8/4/2003
Contact Information: David Allnutt
allnutt.david@epamail.epa.gov
(206) 553-2581
August 4, 2003
03-037
Clarence Abeldgaard is in contempt of a court order, served jail time for previous offenses
On July 21, 2003, Federal District Court Judge Ralph R. Beistline issued orders requiring Clarence Abeldgaard, of Homer, to remedy recent discharges of fill material into a salmon-bearing stream on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. The illegal filling of the stream is part of Abeldgaard’s and Oceanview’s effort to create a road crossing.
The fill prevents juvenile coho salmon from accessing approximately two miles of river habitat important for the coho’s growth. Judge Beistline’s orders require Abeldgaard and Oceanview to complete the corrective work by August 22, 2003.
The EPA alleges that while developing three subdivisions adjacent to Stariski Creek near Anchor Point, Abeldgaard and his construction company, Oceanview Enterprises, illegally filled more than ten acres of wetlands between 1997 and 2002.
In 1996 Abeldgaard served time in jail after being convicted in state court for dumping materials into Stariski Creek. In 1998, he settled a subsequent enforcement action brought by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for illegal road-building activities, and he has ignored a variety of cease-and-desist orders, information requests, and EPA orders.
He is currently in contempt of a court order to comply with various information discovery requests made by the United States in this case.
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