Letter to EPA by JLW

I went back to my files after our visit. It turns out that Trick does, in fact hold the NPDES for Covington Villas. The signage in this PDF shows a different owner. That is why I was confused. I did not intentionally mislead you.

What this does show though is the fact that Burns IS tied to the Covington Villas site and has for some time shown no regard for environmental restraints.

                                                               This practice of duality in ownership and control over developments is a big problem here. A developer mass excavates the site and leaves it then sells lots to other contractors. Those contractors, Burns in this case, then violate the requirements and both sides then cry "it's not my fault".

Williamsburg is one of these. I remember your statement that until the site is reclaimed, the NPDES owner is responsible. It was my understanding that until Williamsburg reaches total reclamation the NPDES can not be terminated. Is that the case?

The city allows and even encourages this and then they do not enforce the local stormwater ordinances.

Case in point...

On 10/07/09 I photographed an inspectors truck parked next to failing BMPs with sediment in the street. On 10/11/09 and photographed the site again after a rain. No repairs had been made to the BMPs and sediment was evident in the drains. Here he did not see me and no warnings were issued.

On 10/12/09 I encountered the same inspector standing in a carport in Spring Valley. He recognized me when I took his photo and called the developer to warn him that I was on site and that he would have to issue a warning since I had seen him. NOT that he was in violation, but that he had been seen doing nothing. The developer called me to ask why I was there and inform me of the warning and the inspectors statements.

It seems that Tuscaloosa has no intention of holding contractors accountable unless forced to by my presence or outside pressure from EPA. I resent this action by the city even though it enforces my earlier beliefs that they are facilitating this ongoing violations through total negligence.

Once again, I wish to point out that the Tuscaloosa storm-water permit has NOT been revised to accommodate the TMDL for Hurricane Creek. This plus the consistent lack of accountability should make them accountable to ADEM or EPA for non-compliance.