Egge fined $41,000 for water discharge.

Byline: Matt Cooper The Register-Guard

Egge Sand and Gravel of Eugene has been fined $41,000 by the state for

wastewater mismanagement that likely released pollutants into the

McKenzie River, the state Department of Environmental Quality said

Tuesday.

The company is in compliance now, the state said. But Egge will appeal

the fine, arguing that the state had approved its wastewater system and

the company has not unlawfully discharged such waters into the river,

said K.C. Klosterman, company president.

Spokane-based CPM Development Corporation, holding company for the

mining facility at 90436 Coburg Road as well as Eugene Sand and Gravel,

received the month's largest penalty for a serious permit violation,

the state said.

Early in 2007, the company operated a rock spillway in one of its

wastewater ponds, where mining material separates from clay and other

undesirable matter, said Chris Bayham, a natural resource specialist

with the department.

In May 2008, Bayham inspected the site and said he saw wastewater

coursing through the spillway, to a system that was pumping another

kind of water - stormwater, the result of rain run-off - into the river.

It was likely that wastewater reached the river, although no test

sample was taken to confirm it, Bayham said. The discharge of

wastewater sediment poses a risk to water quality, aquatic life and the

safety of the river, he added.

At the time of the violation, the company had a permit to discharge

stormwater but not one to discharge wastewater, which was supposed to

be kept in the ponds or re-used, Bayham said.

Permits for the treatment and discharge of wastewater are highly

detailed and cost $15,000 to $20,000, while the annual cost for the

stormwater permit is much lower, he added.

The department said it penalized Egge because the company failed to

inform the department that it had installed the rock spillway, and

failed to submit a revised stormwater pollution control plan.

But Klosterman, president of both Eugene gravel companies, said the

state accepted the spillway at the time of its construction by Egge

more than two years ago. The project was done prior to the development

corporation's ownership of the gravel company, he added.

The company disagrees with the state's assertion that the company

changed how it moved water between the ponds, Klosterman said.

"This operation did nothing to unlawfully discharge waters to waters of

the state," he added.

The company shut the system down last July and now operates a "closed"

wastewater system that complies with state regulations by retaining or

reusing the water but not discharging it, Bayham said.

The fine follows months of work with the company to ensure that the

system meets permit requirements, he added.