Four Homebuilders Fined For Water Pollution

Alexandria, Va.–Four of the biggest U.S. homebuilders agreed to pay $4.3 million in fines in connection with allegations of stream and lake pollution, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.The builders had been accused of polluting the waterways with construction site dirt mixed with stormwater runoff, which is one of the largest threats to Georgia’s water system.Filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., the consent decree concluded a six-year federal probe of hundreds of construction sites in 34 states. Georgia housed 71 of the sites.Georgia housing developments built by Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Pulte Homes, Los Angeles-based KB Home and Centex Homes, based in Dallas, were listed in the EPA complaint.Denver-based Richmond American Homes was also fined. EPA investigators located a number of Clean Water Act violations–ranging from inferior paperwork to a lack of pollution controls–from 2002 to 2005 while visiting construction sites, according to federal officials.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice announced the decree together.