Consent decree reached with horse training center accused of Clean Water Act violations
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York says it has reached a consent decree in a lawsuit brought against an Orange County horse training center.
The lawsuit accused Mark Ford and several businesses operated under his name of violating the Clean Water Act.
The alleged violations were in connection with the construction of a horse racing training facility on two adjacent properties in the town of Wallkill in Orange County.
The defendants were Mark Ford, Mark Ford Stables Inc., Mark Ford Stage Road Property Inc. and Ford Equine Ltd.
Notice of the proposed consent decree will be published in the Federal Register and the public will have the opportunity to comment on it for at least 30 days before it is submitted to the court for final approval.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in White Plains in 2019, alleged that from 2007 to 2016, the defendants destroyed existing federal wetlands and rerouted streams in the course of building a horse racing training center at 90 Slaughter Road and 482/484 Stony Ford Road, in violation of the Clean Water Act.
The lawsuit also alleged that the defendants operated a concentrated animal feeding operation without a permit, allowing horse wash water and process wastewater to be discharged into waters of the United States.
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It also alleged that the defendants violated the terms of a storm water construction general permit during construction at the Slaughter Road site from February 2016 to February 2017.
Terms of the consent decree
Under the terms of the proposed consent decree, the defendants admit, acknowledge and accept responsibility for the following:
From 2007 to 2016 they used or caused the use of mechanized land-clearing or filling equipment to discharge fill material into 18.1 acres of federal wetlands and a tributary that are waters of the United States at the Slaughter Road site. They never sought or obtained authorization from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to fill in those wetlands.
From 2007 to 2013 they caused the straightening or alteration of roughly 310 linear feet of a creek on the northern half of the Slaughter Road site and roughly 1,460 linear feet of the same creek on the southern half of the site, and discharged loose stone below the ordinary high-water mark of the creek. This also was done without the authorization of the Army Corps of Engineers.
From 2015 to 2016, they used or caused the use of mechanized land-clearing and earth-moving equipment to discharge fill material into approximately 1.86 acres of federal wetlands at the Ford Equine site and rerouted roughly 900 feet of a stream that flowed south through the eastern portion of that site. Again, this was done without obtaining authorization from the Army Corps of Engineers.
From at least Dec. 12, 2016 to the present, the Slaughter Road and Ford Equine sites constitute a medium concentrated animal feeding operation that has discharged pollutants to navigable waters without a permit.
Between Jan. 19, 2016 and Jan. 26, 2018, Ford and Mark Ford Stage Road Property Inc. were required to comply with a permit governing the discharge of storm water during construction. However, in Nov. 2016 the federal Environmental Protection Agency conducted an inspection at the Slaughter Road site and found stockpiles of soil and mulch that were not stabilized on the southwest portion of the site that lacked erosion and sediment controls required by the permit.
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Several areas of the Slaughter Road site lacked erosion or sediment controls, which caused turbid storm water to flow into a catch basin and a ditch and stream tributaries, which in turn flowed into the creek in violation of the permit.
In addition, monthly inspections required by the general permit had not been conducted from Feb. 2016 to Feb. 2017.
Decree includes penalties, restoration of wetlands
In addition to paying a $200,000 civil penalty, the consent decree would require the defendants to create or restore approximately 18 acres of wetlands on their property, to restore two streams to their pre-fill configurations, to take additional steps to ensure the long-term success of the restoration work, and to come into compliance with federal concentrated animal feeding operations regulations.
James A. Murphy, an attorney for the defendants, could not be reached for comment in time for this story.
Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record, Poughkeepsie Journal and The Journal News/lohud. Reach him at mrandall@th-record.com or on Twitter @mikerandall845.
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Consent decree reached in suit against Wallkill horse training center
