Companies agree to $70k EPA fines

Three developers — including two from New Hampshire — that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency charged did not get the necessary permits regarding storm-water discharge have agreed to pay $70,000 in fines.

The fines are in connection with a 48-home subdivision in Methuen, Mass. According to the EPA, the companies began work on the development, discharging storm water before getting a permit.

The companies — Ashwood Development Cos. of Hudson, N.H., Park Construction Co. of Fitzwilliam, N.H., and Methuen Group Realty Trust — agreed to pay $70,000 in a settlement with the agency. The developers will decide how to divide the settlement, according to an EPA spokesman.

The EPA requires construction sites that will disturb more than an acre to have a permit, which requires a management plan to mitigate the effects of storm-water runoff. On-site workers must also routinely check storm-water controls, according to the EPA.

The EPA claims the three companies failed to mitigate the impact of construction by not having a detention basin. The result was that water discharged in wetlands and a brook that connects to the Merrimack River.

The developers have since obtained the necessary permit, EPA spokesman David Deegan said.