HOPEWELL, Va. (WRIC) — The City of Hopewell has agreed to pay the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) $50,000 because of alleged environmental violations.
The settlement agreement comes after the EPA alleged that the city violated the Clean Water Act and National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit.
According to city officials, the violations occurred between December 2008 and April 2015 at the Hopewell Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility.
A press release states that the majority of the violations happened in January 2009 and January and February of 2010 during two separate plants ‘upsets’ caused by industrial spills to the city’s treatment plant.
“At the time, the plant took aggressive action to eliminate the violations as quickly as possible,” the release goes on to say.
The consent agreement is the final order in settlement of the violations. It doesn’t require the plant to take any further corrective actions, officials say.
After a 40 day public comment period, the consent agreement will go into effect and the city will be required to pay the penalty within 20 days.
