Cave Junction, OR (9/25/2017) — The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has fined Mark Hopkins Jr. and April Stevens $12,082 for illegally disposing of household garbage, vehicle parts, abandoned cars and campers, appliances, tires and other waste at three properties near Cave Junction.

The federal Bureau of Land Management owns two of the properties, while the other is privately owned.

DEQ inspections in May and August found 120 cubic yards of waste on one Bureau of Land Management property, 45 cubic yards of waste on the other, and 15 cubic yards of waste on the private property.

Of the penalty, $9,582 represents the economic benefit Hopkins and Stevens gained by failing to remove the waste and dispose of it at a permitted facility.

It is illegal to dispose of solid waste anywhere except at a permitted disposal facility. Illegal dumps can pollute ground and surface water. Such dumps can also threaten human health by attracting insects and rodents.

Hopkins and Stevens have until Oct. 5 to appeal the penalty.

View the enforcement letter at: https://www.oregon.gov/deq/nr/092517Hopkins.pdf

Contact
Katherine Benenati, Public Affairs Specialist, Eugene, 541-686-7997, benenati.katherine@deq.state.or.us