But even when the business had the correct permit, the letter alleges, it was violating the terms of the permit by discharging more pollutants than allowed into the Codorus Creek.
SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): A Spring Garden Township scrap yard is facing a potential lawsuit for allegedly discharging an unlawful amount of metals into the Codorus Creek for years, among other environmental concerns.
On March 31, The Chesapeake Legal Alliance sent a Notice of Intent to Sue letter to J&K Salvage on behalf of the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association.
The letter accuses the business—located on 1099 Kings Mill Road—and its owner, Harry Darrah III, of violating both federal and state laws and regulations about permits and pollutants in discharged stormwater.
The filing says the business has been dumping stormwater with high levels of metals like aluminum, boron, arsenic and nickel into tributaries of the Susquehanna River, which leads into the Chesapeake Bay, without the required National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit since Nov. 30, 2024.
But even when the business had the correct permit, the letter alleges, it was violating the terms of the permit by discharging more pollutants than allowed into the Codorus Creek.
The filing includes samples from the creek collected downstream from the facility since 2022. The riverkeeper believes that even prior to the permit’s expiration, the business failed to comply with permit conditions “likely every day from at least January 1, 2022 until the date of this NOI latter,” March 31, 2025.
The unpermitted discharges violate the Clean Water Act and the terms of the NPDES permit, the Chesapeake Legal Alliance said.
“These unpermitted discharges and pollutants have a reasonable likelihood of adversely affecting human health or the environment and the Facility has continuously failed to prevent or minimize these unpermitted discharges of pollution to Codorus Creek,” the filing says.
“Each day the Facility failed to take reasonable steps to minimize or prevent unpermitted discharges is a violation of the Permit and the Clean Water Act.”
The letter notes that violations of the Clean Water Act are subject to fines up to $68,445 per day per violation.
The lawsuit will be filed any time within 60 days of March 31 for the Clean Water Act Violations and will seek an order requiring the business to stop all violations, an assessment of civil penalties and an award of attorneys’ fees, according to the letter. Chesapeake Legal Alliance said it will also file a lawsuit for the violations of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
The Chesapeake Legal Alliance ends the letter by offering the scrap yard a chance to find a resolution before the lawsuit is filed.
Courtesy: www.local21news.com
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