Union property owners fined $250K

Two Union family members and their business must pay $250,000 in fines and $33,492 for mitigation after their illegal bulkhead caused the death of Chinook salmon.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced in January that Joan and Phillip Bayley, mother and son, and their business Big D’s Beach Cabin LLC would pay penalties for killing the endangered fish.

The EPA sued the Bayleys and the LLC, which is on the Hood Canal in Union, in 2020 for Clean Water Act violations.

Philip Bayley planned to build a bulkhead and a house 10 feet landward of the bulkhead on state Route 106 in Union and began constructing the bulkhead in 2017, according to the federal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Tacoma.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers notified the Blayleys 10 days after construction started that they needed to immediately stop and get a Section 404 permit, according to the complaint.

The EPA sent a Notice of Violation in 2018, informing the Blayleys “construction of the bulkhead violated the CWA,” the complaint states. The EPA ordered the family to remedy the violations or face fines.

Prosecutors claim the Blayleys then fraudulently transferred title to the property and wrongfully distributed Big D’s assets in order to avoid fines.

“Specifically, they signed a quitclaim deed conveying Big D’s interest in the site to Ms. Bayley, which was recorded in the Mason County Assessor’s Office on Jan. 22, 2020. Big D’s received neither cash nor property in exchange although the transferred real property was worth at least $105,205 at the time. As a result, Big D’s became insolvent. Mr. and Ms. Bayley allegedly knew the United States had claims for violations of the CWA when they distributed Big D’s assets,” according to the complaint.

After the transfer, in 2020, an illegal stairway was constructed adjacent to the bulkhead, again discharging concrete and other fill material into the Hood Canal, the complaint states.

“The construction projects permanently and negatively changed the patterns of tidal water flow and circulation along the shoreline. These changes advance beach erosion and decrease the overall ecosystem functions of Hood Canal, particularly as a spawning habitat for several species of fish. Construction of the bulkhead also likely increased the pH of the water that came into contact with it, which can kill or injure fish. Mr. Bayley, Ms. Bayley, and Big D’s Beach Cabin LLC admitted to the death of endangered Chinook salmon during construction of the bulkhead,” the EPA said in a statement.

EPA experts found removing the bulkhead would cause further damage, so prosecutors asked the court to award compensatory mitigation in addition to the fine.

The $33,492 payment will go to the Hood Canal Coordinating Council, which includes Jefferson, Kitsap and Mason counties, and the Port Gamble S’Klallam and Skokomish tribes, according to the EPA.

“This final judgment by the U.S. District Court sends a strong and clear message that federal, state, and local permits and approvals are required prior to constructing along the shoreline of Hood Canal and Puget Sound which is important habitat for Chinook salmon and other fish and wildlife,” Ed Kowalski, director of enforcement and compliance assurance division in EPA’s Region 10 office in Seattle said.