A Juneau builder with a long wetlands-filling history moves to settle federal charges

A Juneau construction company accused of illegally filling wetlands is moving toward a settlement with federal and state regulators — its latest brush with the Clean Water Act in a history stretching back nearly two decades.

The United States and the State of Alaska have lodged a proposed consent decree resolving Clean Water Act claims against Duran Construction Company LLC, along with Marciano Duran and Josette Duran. The case was filed in December 2022 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska under the act's civil enforcement provision. The decree doesn't take effect unless the court enters it after a public comment period, which had not yet been scheduled as of July 30.

The docket doesn't include the text of the proposed decree, so its penalties, restoration requirements, and other obligations aren't yet public.

A history of wetlands violations

EPA records show this is not the company's first such case. In 2006, the agency issued a compliance order against Duran Construction for filling wetlands at its Spruce Corners property in Juneau without a permit, and ordered it to submit a removal and restoration plan. The EPA called that the company's second Clean Water Act violation, following the placement of fill on roughly 3.2 acres of wetlands at the Vista Del Sol Subdivision in 2001. Whether those older cases connect to the allegations in the current decree isn't established in the available records.

"We take protecting wetlands seriously," Marcia Combes, then director of EPA's Alaska Operations Office, said in the 2006 announcement. "One way we do this is by ensuring that the proper permits are in place before work begins."

Clean Water Act settlements lodged in federal court are typically open to public comment, commonly for 30 days, before a judge decides whether to approve them. This one remains proposed and could change through comment or court review.