Cusick rancher agrees to pay $50,000 fine for building unauthorized dam

A rancher in Cusick, Washington, has agreed to pay $50,000 to settle a complaint against him for building an illegal dam on a tributary to the Pend Oreille River, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday.

Brock Maslonka built the earthwork dam in September 2015 on his 158-acre property a few miles north of Cusick between Highway 20 and the river. The dam is about 100 feet wide and 200 feet long, and continues to block Perkins Slough, which feeds into the river.

The unauthorized dam significantly degraded the ecosystem of Perkins Slough, the EPA said in a news release, by reducing water quality, increasing turbidity and disrupting the life cycles of important aquatic organisms.

The dam caused backed-up water to flood the highway in early 2016, according to a civil complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Justice.

In a responding court filing, Maslonka said that he built the dam for irrigation and to protect his property from being inundated by the Pend Oreille River.

In 2017, the EPA received complaints about the dam and discovered that Maslonka had failed to apply for a Clean Water Act permit from the Army Corps of Engineers. After it was unable to reach an agreement with Maslonka, the EPA referred the matter to the Department of Justice, which filed the case in the Eastern District of Washington in 2020.

“In order to protect human health and the environment it is absolutely vital that individuals obtain the appropriate permits,” Ed Kowalski, EPA Region 10 Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Director said in a statement. “As this case demonstrates, unauthorized discharges associated with unpermitted activities can have a negative effect on the water quality of streams EPA is charged with protecting under the Clean Water Act.”

In July, the parties entered into an agreement, called a consent decree, in which Maslonka agreed to pay the $50,000 penalty, remove the fill material used to build the dam, restore the site and preserve the habitat through deed restrictions.

All dam removal and restoration work must be completed by June 15, 2024. Maslonka must then monitor the work and ensure that it is successful.

The proposed settlement is open for public comment through Aug. 23.