A Coffey County business owner already in trouble with the Environmental Protection Agency has now been issued a cease and desist order to stop him from dumping materials into wetlands.
The EPA says Michael Skillman, the owner of Victory Excavating, put debris into nearly four acres of wetlands in violation of the federal Clean Water Act and continued after the US Army Corps of Engineers filed a cease and desist order this past October.
Skillman, who has a history of Clean Water Act violations according to the EPA, now has to remove the debris and submit plans to restore the site to its prior state. Failure to comply could result in further enforcement including penalties. The Clean Water Act prohibits people or businesses from putting any sort of fill materials into wetlands or other bodies of water without a permit from the Corps of Engineers.
Last year, Skillman paid a $60,000 civil penalty to the federal government for unauthorized dumping of around 400 cubic yards of broken concrete into the Neosho River, a concern because of the threatened Neosho madtom species of fish.
