State environmental agencies could receive more than $60,000 in fine payments from Bucks to settle an investigation into two fish kills last year.
Bucks County is facing fines of more than $62,000 for incidents last autumn that killed thousands of fish in two Central Bucks streams.
The commissioners will vote today whether to approve settlement agreements with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the state Fish and Boat Commission for sediment spills at Robin Run Dam in Buckingham and Bradford Dam in Warrington.
Sediment from the bottom of the man-made lakes behind the dams flowed into Robin Run and the little Neshaminy Creek when county workers drained them to perform maintenance work last October. the sediment killed fish native to the stream in addition to those that had been swept from the lakes when the water was drained.
Solicitor Glenn Hains said his office negotiated the settlement with the agencies to resolve a dispute over alleged violations of the state's clean Water Act and the Fish and Boat Code.
According to the commissioners meeting agenda, the county would pay $38,639 to the Pennsylvania clean Water Fund and $5,000 to the Fish and Boat Commission for the Robin Run Dam incident. the county would pay $13,593 to the clean Water Fund and $5,000 to the Fish and Boat Commission for the Warrington incident.
The clean Water Fund is a collection of fines, penalties and permit fees from various offices and programs administered by the Department of Environmental Protection for the elimination of water pollution.
DEP spokeswoman Lynda Rebarchak said the amounts being considered by the commissioners are likely the DEP's draft settlement proposal and could increase or decrease. Hains said the commissioners have the option of litigating the matter and challenging the DEP's findings in court.
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Rebarchek said the DEP found that required conservation measures including sediment control and erosion control devices had not been installed at the dams before the maintenance work began.
The settlement amounts would come on top of $63,258 the commissioners paid a New Britain company in November to remove the sediment from Robin Run, which was more severely affected than little Neshaminy Creek.
Commissioner Chairman Charley Martin said he expected to vote to approve the settlements.
"the alternative is a huge roll of the dice and I suspect that would not be in the best interest of the county at this point," he said.
Martin said he doesn't want to challenge the DEP's findings and accepts that the county's employees who oversaw the maintenance work are at fault. the dams are maintained by the county's department of general services.
Gerald Anderson, director of operations for the department, did not return a call seeking comment Tuesday.
Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia said she was unaware that a settlement had been proposed until she saw it on the agenda for today's meeting.
Marseglia said she has a number of questions about the investigation and the state's allegations.
"It seems that people were involved in negotiations and discussions here and I've been kept in the dark and I want to know why," Marseglia said. "It's not acceptable and it's not the way you run a government with the taxpayers' money."
Peter Hall can be reached at 215-345-3067 or phall@phillyBurbs.com
Bucks faces hefty fines for fish kills