News Releases from Region 09

EPA reaches settlement with Asanuma and Nippo USA Inc. for stormwater discharge violations at Tumon Bay construction site in Guam

GUAM – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reached an agreement with Asanuma Kokuba Joint Venture and Nippo USA Inc. to resolve stormwater violations from their Hotel Nikko expansion—the Tsubaki Tower project—which lacked controls to prevent discharge of pollutants into Tumon Bay and the Pacific Ocean in Guam.

“Our goal is to protect Tumon Bay and all of Guam’s sensitive coastal waters for this and future generations,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Mike Stoker. “We’ll continue to work closely with Guam EPA to ensure construction projects have the needed controls to keep pollution and sediment from washing offsite during rain storms.”

An EPA inspection found the project’s construction companies were operating without the required Clean Water Act Stormwater Construction General Permit and had an unauthorized non-stormwater discharge from the construction site at the time of inspection.  EPA also found that the best management practices that were in place to control the discharge of stormwater were not properly implemented. The companies will pay a settlement of $129,048 and have already obtained the proper permit and corrected the site’s stormwater controls.

Many construction sites have operations that disturb soil and include areas for maintenance and cleaning of equipment. Rainfall runoff flowing through such sites can pick up pollutants, such as sediment, metals from exposed steel, and other chemicals found in construction products, and transport them directly to nearby waterways, degrading water quality and damaging coral reefs.

Federal regulations require construction sites to obtain coverage under EPA’s Stormwater Construction General Permit by implementing best management practices to keep pollutants out of stormwater, preventing non-stormwater discharges from the site, and following a site-specific stormwater pollution control plan.

The settlement is subject to a 30-day comment period before becoming final. For more information and to submit comments visit: https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/pi/hotel-nikko-expansion-project-tamuning-guam-proposed-settlement-clean-water-act-class-ii.    

For more information on EPA’s Stormwater Program, please visit: https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/npdes/npdes-stormwater-program

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