CEMEX Construction Materials Pacific LLC will pay $310,000 over violations of the Clean Water Act after a settlement was reached with the EPA over its dumping of industrial waste several years ago into the Truckee River at its sand and gravel mine in Wadsworth about 30 minutes east of Reno on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Reservation.
It did so without a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe does not own or operate the CEMEX mine.
In November 2020, the EPA had issued a so-called Administrative Order on Consent requiring CEMEX to cease all illegal discharges, apply for required NPDES permits, and establish measures to prevent and reduce impacts of an emergency discharge.
“Through the agreement announced today, CEMEX will take the necessary steps to protect the Truckee River and the people of Nevada,” EPA Pacific Southwest Region Administrator Josh F.W. Cook said in a statement.
CEMEX will also work with the Truckee River Watershed Council to restore the floodplain along the lower reach of Cold Creek between the mouth of Coldstream Canyon.
“This project will restore wetland habitat, stabilize streambanks, and restore floodplains in areas previously impacted by gravel mining, forest roads, and logging. When completed, the effort will have created approximately 3.2 acres of new floodplains and increase riparian habitat acreage,” a statement from earlier this week indicated.