AUGUST 13, 2024 - ADMINSTRATIVE COMPLIANCE ORDER ON CONSENT.
Respondent Deseret Ranches of North Florida, LLC, acquired property in Bay, Calhoun, Franklin, and Gulf Counties, Florida, including the Site. Today, the Site is operated by Respondent AgReserves, Inc., for several purposes, including cattle ranching, pine silviculture, and wildlife management. At all times relevant to this AOC, Respondents were the owners and/or operators of the Site.
On or about 2015, to approximately February 2021, Respondents, harvested plantation pine from the Site and developed cattle pastures and constructed stock ponds, which are currently used and will continue to be used for ranching. The Respondents? activities within the Discharge Area generally included removing stumps; roller chopping stumps and woody debris on the soil surface; using an agriculture and silviculture disk to prepare the soil surface for planting pasture grasses; planting of pasture grasses, including rolling; digging ditches using v-blade ditching equipment pulled behind a tractor; and constructing stock ponds and side casting the excavated material. These activities resulted in the discharge of dredged and/or fill material into wetlands on the Site and within the Discharge Area without a permit.
The EPA alleges that Respondents unauthorized activities in the Discharge Area impacted approximately 2,819.94 acres of wetlands.
The EPA alleges that the wetlands within the Discharge Area are waters of the Unite