A Juneau construction company could have to pay $350,000 for allegedly violating the Clean Water Act by dredging and dumping in several wetlands without permits. The U.S. Department of Justice, State of Alaska and Duran Construction Company, LLC, agreed to a proposed settlement on Thursday.
The federal and state governments filed the case against Duran Construction Company in 2022, more than two decades after first telling the company it needed permits to alter wetlands.
The company has had multiple Clean Water Act violations in the past. The first violation was when the company filled about three acres of wetlands while building the Vista Del Sol subdivision off of Glacier Highway in 2001. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a second violation in 2006, after the company filled wetlands on Spruce Corners Drive.
Now, federal and state regulators want Marciano and Josette Duran, who own Duran Construction, to pay for a long list of alleged violations at sites around Juneau.
That list includes rerouting unnamed creeks and filling wetlands in the Vista del Sol subdivision, excavating and piling sand and gravel in ponds located between Switzer Creek and Lemon Creek — which is coho salmon habitat — and dumping earth into streams and wetlands while building a road at the Vista del Mar site in Auke Bay.
According to the proposed settlement, the Durans could also be required to clean up much of the damage at their own expense, in addition to paying the state and federal government each $175,000.
The Durans did not respond to a request for comment in time for this story. Neither did any of the attorneys named on the case.
The public has until Sept. 3 to comment on the settlement. The Justice Department can withdraw from the settlement if the comments disclose facts showing that it’s inappropriate, improper or inadequate.
