CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state Department of Environmental Protection has ordered Monarch Cloud Campus, which is building a site for a data center in Point Pleasant, to take corrective action after a rainstorm last Saturday caused water and mud from the site to enter a nearby neighborhood.
The DEP issued a unilateral enforcement order to Monarch Tuesday.
According to a DEP news release, the enforcement order requires Monarch “to immediately repair and strengthen the stormwater controls that failed, install additional erosion and sediment controls where needed, and take whatever actions are necessary to prevent similar releases from occurring in the future.”
DEP has also ordered Monarch to stop excavating work on another area of the project that started before required sediment control structures were installed. Work in that area cannot begin under the controls are in place, the agency said.
DEP Secretary Harold Ward said state laws require construction sites to be maintained without spilling onto residential properties.
“Construction stormwater permits are intended to keep sediment on the construction site and protect neighboring properties and nearby streams,” Ward said. “When those controls fail, or when work occurs without the required protections in place, the WVDEP will take enforcement action to ensure the problems are corrected.”
Monarch told MetroNews Monday it was taking care of the clean-up for three property owners in the Meadowlands Estates subdivision after the second messy event in less than two months.
Monarch Site Manager Jason Bechtle released the following statement Tuesday evening:
“We are working directly and collaboratively with WVDEP to remedy and upgrade the controls it identified. Since Saturday night, we have been in close contact with both WVDEP officials as well as local residents affected. Our priority is our neighbors first and foremost, and we share the community and WVDEP’s concerns. We will continue to address them immediately.”