EVERETT — A global building-materials company faces $21,000 in state fines over allegations that concrete and muddy water flowed from a local facility into city storm drains.
The violation involves a sand, gravel and concrete-mixing operation at 6300 Glenwood Ave. that belongs to CEMEX Construction Materials Pacific. The drains there let out into Pigeon Creek Number Two, a tributary of Pigeon Creek.
“This case involved repeated and preventable violations,” said Kevin Fitzpatrick, the Department of Ecology’s regional water quality section manager, in a statement. “It’s important for CEMEX to fix these problems because the street drains flow directly to the creek and Puget Sound.”
The Department of Ecology identified two series of violations.
The first involved the discharge of about 1,000 gallons of water from a concrete washout pond to the sidewalk, roadway and storm drains on Glenwood Avenue on Feb. 25. The runoff was caustic and posed a danger to fish and other aquatic life. CEMEX stopped the discharge and cleaned slurry from the road and storm drains under a city emergency order, the state said.
CEMEX received a $6,000 fine from the state in 2013 for a similar violation.
The second penalty involved muddy water flowing from the CEMEX property onto the street in March and November, the state reported. Measurements taken from the water in the tributary at the drain outfall showed that the water was 16 times muddier than allowed under state and federal clean-water laws.
City inspectors helped the state track the origin of the sediment after receiving complaints, public works spokeswoman Marla Carter said.
CEMEX is active more than in 50 countries and has its headquarters in Monterrey, Mexico.
A spokeswoman in Houston, where CEMEX USA is based, said the company has tried to work in an environmentally conscious manner.
“Unfortunately, during our efforts to keep our trucks and the nearby community streets clean, some of the water inadvertently flowed where we did not intend for it to” flow, Sara Engdahl said.
The company has invested nearly $70,000 to improve the drainage system at the facility, Engdahl said. Most of the work took place in April, with more to come.
CEMEX can appeal the penalties to the Washington State Pollution Control Hearings Board.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.
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