D.C.’s Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against Fort Myer Construction, accusing the company of contaminating the city’s stormwater system with pollutants for years.
In a 10-page lawsuit, Attorney General Brian Schwalb said the company allowed runoff contaminated with petroleum to leave its Ward 5 facility and pollute city waterways. Those include the Springhouse Run stream, which flows into the Anacostia River.
The runoff, according to the lawsuit, flows into stormwater drains. Those are connected to the sewer system that takes runoff to creeks and streams that ultimately flow into the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers.
The company is accused of contaminating the waterways since at least March 2015, therefore violating the Water Pollution Control Act, or the Clean Water Act.
“There have been so many resources and agencies and governments working together to clean up the Anacostia over the course of many years,” said Will Stephens, assistant deputy attorney general for the public advocacy division. “So when entities like Fort Myer continue to violate pollution restrictions and permitting requirements, and add sediment, petroleum and other discharges into the Anacostia, it undermines all those efforts, in addition to violating the underlying laws.”
D.C.’s Department of Energy and the Environment inspected Fort Myer’s facility several times, and those reviews led to infraction notices, Schwalb’s office said. The company was also told to apply for an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) permit and improve what DOEE considered “poor maintenance conditions,” but allegedly ignored both directives.
WTOP has contacted Fort Myer for comment on the allegations.
Schwalb’s office is seeking civil penalties, which, as they apply to the Water Pollution Control Act, could mean up to $50,000 per violation for some violations and up to $250,000 for others.
“People use that for fishing,” Stephens said. “People would like to be able to swim and make use of the water. It goes through the National Arboretum and other places, so it’s important to ensure that our public waters like that are safe and clean for any purpose that the public wants to use it.”
Trey Sherard, a riverkeeper at Anacostia Riverkeepers, said polluting major bodies of water could have significant consequences.
“This isn’t just an environmental case. This is a human health case,” Sherard said. “Every single little bit of toxin that enters the river is going to make its way into a fish somewhere, whether that’s a fish that’s eaten by someone in the District or someone around the corner, downstream of the Potomac, whether it’s a fish that makes its way out to the bay and gets caught there.”
Toxins don’t stay in one place, Sherard said, and could find their way into people’s bodies.
“Every little bit more toxic we make our environment, that makes all of us more likely to be getting sick, and it encourages other companies to think they can get away with it as well,” Sherard said.
WTOP’s Jacob Kerr contributed to this report.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
