FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - July 17, 2003 03-147
OLYMPIA - TransAlta Centralia Mining LLC will help pay for stream restoration work that will improve fish habitat in the Chehalis River.
This will settle a state penalty the company received last year for failing to control and treat stormwater runoff that entered Hanaford Creek.
The runoff contained mud and clay particles that can harm fish-spawning habitat.
Under terms of the settlement, the owner of the Centralia coal mine will pay $60,000. Ten thousand dollars of the settlement will be paid to the state as a civil penalty, and the remainder will be paid over two years to help support a stream-restoration project. The money will be used to purchase and plant vegetation that will add shade to cool the river's water and improve salmon-spawning habitat.
The project is located on a one-mile stretch of the Chehalis River from river mile 61 to 62, between Skookumchuck and Scatter creeks.
This settles a $24,000 penalty TransAlta received from the state in April 2002. The settlement exceeds the original amount of the penalty because state Department of Ecology (Ecology) officials noted the runoff problems continued for some time after the penalty was issued.
"Our goal is to get to the environmental benefit, not to collect fines," said Kelly Susewind, a water-quality manager for Ecology. "Through this settlement, the company will give something back to the Chehalis River watershed."
This page created and maintained by Chehalis River Council
Send comments or questions to the: Chehalis River Council