Sand mine violations lead to fine of $11,000
An unlicensed Perry County open-pit sand mine on the Arkansas River and one of its owners was fined $11,000, the minimum sanction, Monday for violating state clean water and mining regulations.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox imposed the fines on Wear Farm Inc. near Bigelow and Jennifer Kate McMillan, 44, of Conway, an officer in the company and its registered agent, after they failed to respond to the allegations made by the state Department of Environmental Quality in a February lawsuit. The judge also ordered the defendants to pay the agency’s $1,155 in legal expenses.
The judge also ordered the company to stop operations until it complies with the necessary laws, but state officials couldn’t say whether mining was ongoing at the property on Toad Suck Lane in Perry County next to the Arkansas River. Wear Farm’s corporate charter has been revoked for failure to pay franchise taxes, according to the agency complaint.
Reached by phone after the hearing, McMillan said she didn’t know anything about the lawsuit. She said Wear Farm has been working to obtain permits because the environmental
agency has been harassing its haulers.
“This is news to me,” she said.
The department submitted sworn statements to the judge that McMillan had been served with notice of the suit on Feb. 9.
Inspectors investigating the operation in May 2011 discovered that the company did not have the required industrial stormwater discharge permit, which is required by the Arkansas Water and Air Pollution Control Act, Arkansas Code Annotated 8-4-101.
The company did not respond to a July 2011 notification about the violation nor to an August 2011 warning letter, both of which had information about what Wear Farm needed to do to meet the law’s requirements, according to the lawsuit.
The mine was found to still be operating during followup inspections in June and in November, at which time the agency discovered it was not permitted for open-cutting, a violation of the state’s OpenCut Land Reclamation Act, Arkansas Code Annotated 1557-301.
Questioned by the judge Monday, agency attorney Daniel Pilkington said the environmental department could have sought a $10,000 fine for each day the business operated without the discharge permit under the clean air and water act and $1,000 for every day of operations without the mining permit.
McMillan owns 20 percent of the Wear Farm, according to her bankruptcy petition. She and Larry Dale McMillan, 56, her husband of 11 years, filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy reorganization three weeks after the environmental agency filed suit. Among their assets they listed 20 percent ownership in 198 acres and a home on Arkansas 60 in Bigelow, worth $27,956.
The couple, who also operate Unhinged Attitudez Gifts, Decor & More shop, at Conway’s Salem Place Shopping Center on Prince Street, also owe $37,000 in unspecified state taxes, according to their bankruptcy petition. However, the shopping center owner, Trinity Development Co. Inc. of Conway, filed suit against the store and Jennifer McMillan in January in Faulkner County Circuit Court, claiming that as of October, they owed $7,007 in rent under their $1,750-per-month lease. The McMillans have not responded to the allegations, but acknowledged the suit in their bankruptcy petition.
In December, McMillan and Unhinged Attitudez were ordered to pay a $3,179 judgment to a creditor from Texas. In September, they were ordered to pay $5,784 to a supplier for merchandise they hadn’t paid for, court filings show.