The Environmental Protection Agency fined St. Thomas’ Ritz-Carlton Resort nearly $30,000 for failing to monitor and report wastewater discharges going back to 2018, the Agency reported Wednesday.
The resort on St. Thomas’ East End had already addressed the cause of the violation, the EPA reported. Failure to monitor and report stormwater runoff to nearby mangroves caused the $29,986.50 fine, according to EPA records. Additionally, the company will undertake a supplemental environmental project estimated to cost approximately $27,000 to protect a wetland and improve water quality in Turquoise Bay.
“The Ritz Carlton is required to monitor its discharges into the ocean under the conditions of the Clean Water Act permit,” said EPA Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia. “EPA will hold companies accountable when they violate critical laws that protect public health and the environment.”
The supplemental environmental project consists of an oil and water separator and sediment trap to abate the discharge of oil and sediment into Turquoise Bay and a second sediment trap to minimize the discharge of sediment into a wetland on the resort’s property. These controls will improve the health of those waters and will benefit the people and wildlife that depend on them, the EPA said.
The fine had to be paid within 30 days, according to the EPA, and could not be written off on tax filings as a business loss.
The Ritz Carlton partners with Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ocean Futures Society and Community Footprints as part of its “dedication to corporate social responsibility,” according to the company’s website.
Several messages seeking comment from the Ritz’s parent company, Marriot International, Inc, were not immediately returned.
