A Christian radio broadcast company in Ninilchik has been fined $30,000 for illegally filling wetlands.
Aurora Communications International, Inc is a nonprofit based out of California and broadcasts Christian radio programs to Russia, China, and Japan.
The EPA fined the company in February after finding that it had illegally filled portions of wetlands on its 150 acre Ninilchik parcel.
The Clean Water Act prohibits discharges to waters of the U.S. without the acquisition of a federal permit.
Aurora began constructing a road and concrete pad in 2012 for a short-wave radio antenna tower which discharged gravel, concrete, and soil runoff into the wetlands which drain into the Cook Inlet.
The original EPA fine of $177,500 was lowered to $30,000 because of the company’s finances. That fine has been paid.
This is not the first time the property in Ninilchik has been fined: in 2004 Aurora was fined $17,000 by the EPA for violations to the Clean Water Act caused by road-building between 1998 and 2002.
In both cases, the EPA requested that the company restore the wetlands damaged by the construction.
