Wednesday, November 9, 2005

EPA sues over dumping in Santa Cruz River

LARRY COPENHAVER

Tucson Citizen

The federal Environmental Protection Agency is suing a Scottsdale developer and his companies, alleging they violated federal law by diverting and filling more than 100 acres of the Santa Cruz River and its tributaries.

The EPA yesterday announced the suit against George H. Johnson and his companies, alleging violation of the Clean Water Act.

Johnson, through a written statement from attorney Michael Kitchen, yesterday denied violating the Clean Water Act, noting the area has no navigable waterways. Plus, the land in question is and has always been ranch land "at all times relevant to this or any other suit," Kitchen wrote.

The suit, filed by the Justice Department in the U.S. District Court, claims that in 2003 and 2004 Johnson extensively graded the King and La Osa ranches just north of Marana without proper permits and put the fill in the Santa Cruz riverbed. Johnson has since sold the properties.

The Clean Water Act prohibits the discharge of dredged or fill material into the nation's waters without a permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

EPA wants Johnson to fix the damage. He also could face civil penalties of up to $32,500 per day per violation, according to an agency news release.

Johnson also is in legal hot water with the state, which in February sued, alleging he illegally bulldozed 270 acres of state trust land in and near Ironwood Forest National Monument, the same general area in the EPA case.