How did the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers respond?
On April 26, 2004, the Corps of Engineers shut down all work in and near SR 18 project site wetlands. On July 22, 2004, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced it and WSDOT reached a settlement agreement to resolve the permit violation. WSDOT accepts the findings and the provisions of the settlement agreement, and takes responsibility for our mistakes. The settlement allows WSDOT to resume work in and near environmentally sensitive areas and contains these provisions: • WSDOT will pay a $50,000 civil penalty • WSDOT shall not fill wetlands on the project site unless it has permission • WSDOT must submit a plan within two months of the agreement date to restore the eight affected wetlands and must complete this wetland restoration by Dec. 31, 2004 • WSDOT will perform additional wetland creation and enhancement to compensate for the damaged wetlands. WSDOT must submit plan for this additional work by Sept. 19, 2004, and must submit a final plan by Jan. 31, 2005. This work must be com
