Criminal charges filed in Puyallup River pollution case. Dam operator faces jail time, fines
The Washington State Attorney General’s Office filed 36 criminal charges Monday against the operator of Electron Hydro dam after turf polluted the Puyallup River in Pierce County during a construction project in 2020.
The charges brought forth in Pierce County Superior Court against Electron Hydro and chief operating officer Thom Fischer include violations of the state’s Water Pollution Control Act, Shoreline Management Act and Pierce County Code.
If convicted, Fischer faces a maximum penalty of 90 or 364 days in jail, depending on the charge, and fines of up to $1,000, $5,000 or $10,000 for each count. As a business, Electron Hydro faces a maximum penalty of $250,000 for each of the 36 counts, the state said in a news release on Monday.
The dam put about 2,400 square yards of field turf that contained 16 to 18 cubic yards of crumb rubber under a plastic lining in the bed of the Puyallup River as part of a construction project in July 2020. The river lifted the lining, and field turf was carried away by the current.
The company’s attorney Harold Malkin with Calfo Eakes said in a statement the company has been working cooperatively with state and federal authorities since the incident.
“ As the company previously advised the Attorney General and community stakeholders, at no time did the company intend to adversely impact the Puyallup River or its aquatic inhabitants in connection with the construction work the company was authorized by local, state and federal officials to pursue,” Malkin’s statement said.
In June 2021, the Washington State Department of Ecology imposed a $501,000 fine against the dam operator.
“These toxic materials had no place in the river,” Ecology director Laura Watson said in a statement last summer. “The force of the water tore the turf apart, washed it down river, and sent it right into the food web. This is an environmental tragedy that didn’t have to happen.”
The University of Washington-Tacoma Center for Urban Waters researchers tested samples of recovered field turf and crumb rubber and discovered that it contained chemicals found in tires, including one that is “extremely toxic” to coho salmon, the state press release said.
Independent consultant for Electron Hydro, Lois Schwennesen, previously told The News Tribune that Electron Hydro performed aquatic tests on the turf material released in the Puyallup River showing that it is not toxic to fish.
In July 2020, the dam company began a construction project to upgrade its diversion system that was intended to protect fish. The diversion system redirects water from the river into a wooden flume that travels down to the dam, creating power to more than 20,000 homes, according to Electron Hydro.
Fischer told The News Tribune in September 2020 the goal of the upgrade was to ensure no fish got trapped in the diversion system and killed in the dam.
While crews worked on the diversion system in the riverbed, a portion of the river had to be shifted to a bypass channel. The turf was placed between linings that bypass.
Crews added plastic linings and artificial turf to seal the river into the bypass and prevent water from leaking into the work area, Fischer said.
The artificial turf was added last minute to prevent the plastic liner from puncturing on sharp rocks in the bypass, he told The News Tribune. That decision was not permitted nor cleared by Pierce County.
When the diversion began, the liner in the bypass slid and tore. A plastic lining and portions of the artificial turf, made of vehicle tires, were carried away by the current in August 2020.
Fischer said in November 2020 that Electron crews have recovered almost all of the synthetic turf. Schwennesen said Electron Hydro has an ongoing commitment to keep looking for leftover turf.
Fischer has also previously told The News Tribune the incident was a “one-time screw up” and agreed the government should investigate.
“I’m going to listen to them and the (Puyallup) Tribe and the county,” he told The News Tribune in November 2020. “They are all concerned and rightly so, but so are we. Together we could accomplish a lot to make this project the model of how things should operate.”
The federal government, the Puyallup Tribe and other interest groups have sued Electron Hydro over the turf mishap.
Communities for a Healthy Bay and Puget Soundkeeper Alliance filed a lawsuit in March 2021, and the U.S Justice Department filed a lawsuit in November 2020.
This story was originally published January 10, 2022 at 2:50 PM.
