On Wednesday, conservationist group Riverkeeper, Inc. filed a complaint in the Southern District of New York against All About Recycling, Inc.; Gentile Construction Corp., All County Mobile Concrete, Inc., Joseph Gentile, Jr. and John Bernal, Jr. for “ongoing and continuous” violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA) from the excessive discharging of polluted stormwater from their facilities.
The defendants own a waste material recycling and storage facility and a concrete manufacturing facility in Yonkers, New York, that allegedly “discharge[s] polluted stormwater runoff […] into the waters of the United States without authorization” since the defendants did not obtain either a State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permit or a General Permit. The stormwater runoff contained raw materials and minerals, demolition waste, chemicals, cleaning liquids and more, which can dissolve in water and harm wildlife and people in contact with it.
According to the complaint, All About Recycling “routinely discharged polluted stormwater associated with industrial activity” since June 2, 2017, without having applied for a government permit.
Under the CWA, “each and every subsequent day” the defendants discharged stormwater into the rivers constituted its own violation of the law, the complaint said. With a general permit, they would be required to create a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan. As a result, Riverkeeper is suing for seven violations of the Clean Water Act.
The plaintiff is seeking a declaration that All About Recycling has violated the CWA, injunctive relief enjoining the defendants from discharging pollutants from their property outside of a proper permit, an order forcing the defendants to immediately apply for a General Permit and remedy the harm they have caused, civil penalties, attorney’s and consultant’s fees and costs, and other relief.
Riverkeeper is represented by Super Law Group, LLC.
