Enforcement Action Puts Farm Owner in Cross Hairs

Imagine buying a farm property then just a few months later being told that environmental disturbances have occurred on the site and the State is now taking an aggressive enforcement action against you that threatens your property, your livelihood and your family. Like it or not, you’re now in the cross hairs of the state’s environmental enforcement agency.

Thankfully, you’re smart enough to call GreenWorks.

That’s exactly what the real property owner did when confronted with the situation described above. We went to work to prove the technical claims of the state’s enforcement agency were inaccurate. Using historical geographical data, in-the-field research, soil boring and extensive research, GreenWorks discovered that site disturbances on the property went all the way back to the early 20th century. Over the decades, and many years before our client purchased the property, County, State & Federal agencies actually realigned the stream several times where the previous owners cleared and filled wooded wetlands and flood plains.

Once we had the facts, we then needed to lay it out clearly and make our case to the Department of Environmental Protection/ After doing just that, the fines were reduced saving our client more than $100,000. Additionally, the amount of land on the property that needed to be  restored was significantly decreased from 10 acres to 1 acre.

These types of violations never used to get this much attention, but now many towns and State agencies are increasingly relying upon serving up NOV’s as part of their revenue strategy. In this case, what began as an aggressive enforcement action requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and improvements ended up as a minor restoration that saved our clients money, time and lots of headaches.

So, if you know a homeowner being cited for an illegal dock, bulkhead or property improvements with no permits, or commercial/industrial operation not in compliance with air emission or solid waste disposal standards, have them give GreenWorks a call. We’ll work hard to get the cross hairs off their back!