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Sunday, October 24, 2004

Environment - Construction runoff the focus of several Courier-Journal stories today

"MSD slow to stop construction runoff muddying waterways: Agency defends methods, and results," is the headline to the lead story in the Local/Regional Section of the Louisville Courier-Journal today. The MDS is the Louisville Metropolitan Sewer District. Some quotes:

Jim Bartley says lax enforcement by local regulators has contributed to turning his swimming and fishing pond in eastern Jefferson County into a muddy mess.

The problem, Bartley said, is runoff from nearby construction — compounded by what he describes as poor enforcement of a 2001 ordinance meant to deal with Kentucky's most widespread water-pollution problem: sediment washing into waterways.

"They are not doing what they need to do," Bartley said of Metropolitan Sewer District officials. "This has really been a nightmare."

A Courier-Journal review of MSD enforcement records and internal e-mail messages obtained under Kentucky's open-records law confirms that the agency often takes longer to act on enforcement cases than called for under the law — and it has been reluctant to issue fines.

But developers and MSD officials say that may not be bad. MSD's executive director, Bud Schardein, who acknowledges having slowed inspectors at the construction site near Bartley's pond, said he views all developers, even those allegedly causing sediment-laden runoff, as among MSD's customers.

He said he tries to work with those customers to prevent pollution without creating new expenses, and he believes in issuing fines only when violators are not moving toward compliance. He instead uses temporary stop-work orders to rein in polluters, he said.

Accompanying the article is a graphic illustrating the environmental impact of soil runoff, and several other stories.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 24, 2004 04:15 PM
Posted to Environmental Issues