An administrative order from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which was enacted in July of 2006 citing Fallon County for violations of the Clean Water Act, has been closed.
The original order cited discharge of dredged and fill material to Baker Lake, Upper Baker Lake, and the surrounding wetlands, and included compliance measures to “correct the environmental damage“. The order required Fallon County to remove all dredged and fill material that was discharged as a result of the violations, and to restore the impacted areas of Baker Lake, Upper Baker Lake and their wetlands to pre-impact conditions and grade.
According to Richard Menger with Fallon County Environmental Health, “persistence, hard work, and lots of money were able to achieve functional wetland areas, part of an overall successful mitigation effort which resulted in fully achieving restoration objectives at Baker Lake.”
Fallon County received written notification of the order’s closure from the EPA after nearly nineteen years of restoration effort.