Powers Stone Inc. agreed to complete two environmental projects and pay a $27,500 penalty as part of a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for alleged Clean Water Act violations at its stone-cutting facility in Montrose, Susquehanna County, Pa.

EPA's complaint alleged that the company failed to obtain a Clean Water Act permit for its industrial and storm water discharges, and failed to implement a required erosion and sediment control plan. As part of the settlement, the company has neither admitted nor denied liability for the alleged violations, but has certified its compliance with applicable Clean Water Act requirements.

Powers Stone has committed to two improvement projects:

• At least $165,000 will be spent on filters that allow the facility to recycle its water, so that less contaminated water is discharged into the environment.
• About $15,000 will be spent to plant and maintain high-density wetland plants such as cattails or reed canary grass around the sedimentation pond at the facility. This would improve the settling-out of waste materials, and thus reduce the contamination in the runoff from the facility.

The Clean Water Act requires owners of industrial or construction sites to obtain a permit before discharging pollutants and storm water runoff into streams, creeks, rivers, lakes or other waterways, EPA says.

These Clean Water Act permits require pollution limits, discharge monitoring, and a storm water pollution prevention plan.

This plan includes pollution-reducing measures such as erosion controls, oil-spill prevention, storing waste fluids in proper containers sheltered from rainfall, and employee training in environmental requirements.

Storm water runoff from industrial and construction sites often contains pollutants such as oil and grease, chemicals, nutrients, and oxygen-demanding compounds.

Stone-cutting operations use substantial amounts of water to suppress dust and cool equipment become contaminated with minerals, stone dust pollutants, including stone dust, EPA says.