NASHVILLE (CN) - The Tennessee Department of Transportation flouted environmental law when it let unnamed contractors dump fill material into wetlands across from Big Marrowbone Creek during a road-widening project, a public watchdog group says in Federal Court.
The creek is a tributary of the Cumberland River.
The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility claims the agency's commissioner failed to comply with the conditions of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers original permit. That permit allegedly required the defendants to create, restore and preserve wetlands to replace the wetlands affected by the project to widen State Route 12 from Nashville to Ashland City.
The plaintiff adds that, due to "a convoluted series of amendments, modifications and extensions" following the permit, "the correct permit may never have been obtained, constituting additional violations."
The group wants the government to pay up to $32,500 for each day it allegedly violated the Clean Water Act.
Lead counsel is Ray Throckmorton.
Big Marrowbone Creek is a tributary of the Cumberland River.
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