A local utility contractor working outside of Rochester, New York will be required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to restore wetlands it filled illegally, and pay a $5,000 penalty for the violation of federal law. 

Under the settlement with EPA, the former owner of Rochester Utility Contractors, Michael Maier, must restore the wetlands to their previous condition. Maier has removed the illegal fill as ordered.  The case was referred to EPA by the Buffalo District office of the Army Corps of Engineers.

"Filling in a wetland effectively destroys it," said Alan Steinberg, EPA regional administrator. "Many companies may think that no one will notice if a small wetland area is destroyed, but EPA and its partners do notice and we will not only penalize violators, but we will make them reverse the damage that they have done, often at a great financial expense."

The affected area is approximately 0.4 acres of a cattail wetland and is part of the Black Creek watershed.  Water from the wetlands drains to Black Creek, and from there to the Genesee River and Lake Ontario.  Rochester Utility Contractors filled the wetland with soil from other sites and then used the area to store equipment and materials beginning in the spring of 1994 and continuing periodically through December 2004.  This destroyed the area of wetlands and disrupted the local ecosystem.