WHIO reports the Ohio Attorney General sued a landscaping business for allegedly polluting waterways.
Attorney General Dave Yost said Tom’s Mulch and Landscaping in Bellbrook, Ohio, and its owners, Judd and Laura Powell, illegally discharged pollutants into a tributary of Sugar Creek, into Sugar Creek and a wetland, according to the lawsuit.
The Powells also operate a composting facility according to WHIO.
According to the lawsuit filed in the Greene County Common Pleas Court, Judd and Laura Powell discharged pollutants into the water without a permit, violated water quality standards, failed to manage leachate and failed to operate in accordance with authorizing documents.
WHIO reports the Ohio EPA discovered several violations of the state’s pollution laws in March 2019. The EPA sent a violation notice in May 2019 and asked the business to apply for an individual National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit and to relocate the mulch and compost adjacent to the waterways. The EPA sent notices in 2020 and 2021 and the lawsuit claims the business owners failed to address the violations.
WHIO says each claim of the lawsuit says the owners are subject to penalties of up to $10,000 per day for each violation. The lawsuit seeks the company to cease operations of the composting area, submit applications for the proper permits and pay all costs and fees.
