Ellsworth construction firm, EPA settle in wetlands violation

ELLSWORTH – An Ellsworth construction company was fined $16,017 for violations of the Clean Water Act and has agreed to contribute an added $87,154 to fund an invasive species control program at Acadia National Park.

The financial levies against Ray Builders Inc. were part of a settlement announced Wednesday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The Ellsworth-based company purchased and developed a 42-lot residential subdivision on Altons Avenue between 1989 and 2003 but did not obtain a permit for filling of wetlands, the EPA said in a statement. Construction of roads and development of lots within the subdivision resulted in discharge of fill material into nearly 4 acres of wetlands that flow into the nearby Union River. That discharge violated the federal Clean Water Act, which is tasked to prevent water pollution across the country.

“EPA’s goals in this case were to ensure that wetlands functions and values that were lost as a result of the illegal activities were compensated for and to obtain an appropriate penalty,” Robert Varney, EPA’s New England region administrator, said in the statement.

The civil fine will be paid to the EPA, but Robert Ray, owner of Ray Builders Inc., already has made additional reparations for the violations as part of the agreement. He recently donated 17 acres near downtown Ellsworth as a conservation easement to offset the wetlands damage. The easement, to be coordinated by Frenchman Bay Conservancy, a local conservation group, will protect the land permanently from future development.

The land in question is an established nesting zone of two bald eagles.

Perhaps the biggest part of the settlement was Ray’s willingness to fund a three-year program to control invasive species at Great Meadow, a 115-acre freshwater wetland in Maine’s only national park.

The program, which will cost more than $87,000 over three years, was lauded as innovative by Varney. It will be implemented through the National Park Service with the help of the Friends of Acadia, a nonprofit group affiliated with the park.

“We’ve been working with EPA for a while on this and, clearly, it’s something that will benefit the park,” said David Manski, chief of resource development for Acadia National Park. “The park has a lot of non-native plants and not nearly enough money to manage of all them, so this project definitely gives us a leg up.”

erussell@bangordailynews.net

664-0524