EPA v. Eric Klock/Wolford Trucking

Case summary

Over a three-year period beginning in 2008, Bobby Wolford Trucking & Salvage, Inc. (BWT) contracted with Mr. Eric Klock to deliver fill material to the property owned by Karl Frederick Klock Pacific Bison, LLC (Klock) and to provide earth-moving work. The property is located in Snohomish County approximately 3 miles east of Monroe, Washington. As part of the agreement, in which BWT provided fill material to Klock in exchange for a place to dispose of it, BWT dumped, and charged others to dump, more than 54,000 cubic yards of fill material into an oxbow of the Skykomish River, wetlands that abut the oxbow, a perennial stream that flows into the oxbow, and wetlands that abut that perennial stream. BWT also used backhoes, dozers, and other heavy machinery to distribute fill material throughout the oxbow and wetlands. Neither Klock nor BWT obtained the required Clean Water Act permits. Klock's and BWT's unauthorized actions, which directly impacted a minimum of 2.934 acres of wetlands and 2,021 linear feet of streams, completely filled and destroyed some wetlands and caused significant damage to others. The destruction of and damage to wetlands caused significant and direct impacts to the structure and functioning of the floodplain, secondary and tertiary river channels, and floodplain refuge habitats for listed threatened species that depend on the Skykomish River ecosystem, including Steelhead, Chum, Coho and Pink salmon, as well as Chinook salmon and Bull Trout, for which this stretch of the Skykomish is designated critical habitat. Their unauthorized actions contributed to a decline in water quality in downstream waters, including the Skykomish River, the Snohomish River, and the Puget Sound. The settlement agreement involves several components: -BWT will pay $300,000 in civil penalties (Klock had an inability to pay a penalty) -BWT will perform significant restoration work, including removing approximately 40,000 cubic yards of unauthorized fill from waters of the United States, regrading the site, and paying for native plants for revegetation efforts -Klock will execute an environmental covenant that will maintain approximately 188 acres of the property in conservation -The Tulalip Tribes of Washington will oversee BWT?s earth-moving restoration work -After BWT completes the earth-moving restoration work, the Tulalip Tribes will install native plants throughout approximately 17 acres of the property and Klock will transfer title of the 188 acres to the Tulalip Tribes -The environmental covenant will remain on the land and the Tulalip Tribes will hold the property in in an undevelopable conservation state in perpetuity

Defendants (3)

• Bobby Wolford Trucking and Salvage IncNamed in complaintNamed in settlement
• Eric KlockNamed in complaintNamed in settlement
• Susan KlockNamed in complaintNamed in settlement

Facilities (1)

• KLOCK, ERIC AND SUSAN - ERIC AND SUSAN KLOCK PROPERTY

  25231 BEN HOWARD ROAD, MONROE, WA, 98272

  Registry ID: 110042354573

Statutes cited

• CWA 404 — Permits for Dredge and Fill Material

Enforcement conclusions (1)

• Eric Klock/Wolford Truckingentered 2020-12-08

  Primary law: CWA

  Federal penalty: $300,000

Timeline (7 milestones)

• 2013-07-10Referred To Dept Of Justice
• 2013-10-22Enforcement Action Data Entered
• 2014-05-29Supplemental Referral-Adding parties, counts
• 2018-05-23Complaint Filed With Court
• 2020-12-08Final Order Lodged
• 2020-12-08Concluded
• 2020-12-08Final Order Entered