This Administrative Order on Consent ( Consent Order ) is entered into voluntarily by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9 ( EPA ), and Hell's Kitchen Geothermal, LLC ( Respondent or HKG ). Section 309(a) of the Clean Water Act ( CWA ), 33 U.S.C. Section 1319(a), provides that whenever the EPA finds that any person is in violation of any condition or limitation which implements Section 301(a) of the CWA, 33 U.S.C. Section 1311(a), the EPA may issue an order requiring such person to comply with such condition or limitation, and shall specify a time for compliance that the EPA determines to be reasonable.
Hell's Kitchen Geothermal, LLC of California, starting around November 2021 extended drain channels and related berms, banks and roads, on a 1,881.72-acre property owned by the Imperial Irrigation District in the unincorporated area of Imperial County, California. The work to extend the drains consisted of ditching and dredging the channels, extending them closer to the Salton Sea. The property contains a large contiguous area of wetlands adjacent to the Salton Sea, which is a traditionally navigable water. The ditching, earthmoving, and dredging activities resulted in the discharge of dredged or fill material to approximately 27.21 acres of wetlands. The earthmoving activities further caused indirect impacts to approximately 1200 acres of contiguous wetlands by causing water to flow out of the wetlands and into the Salton Sea, leaving the wetlands w