According to an article in this morning’s Altoona Mirror, the state Department of Environmental Protection has fined Rutter’s real estate holding company and an excavation contractor $73,000 for violations of the Clean Streams Law. The fines are a result of an inspection that occurred at the new Rutter’s location in Pinecroft. The violations were reportedly discovered last summer by the Blair County Conservation District after being alerted to turbid water being discharged from the construction site following rainstorms. Earlier, members of the Little Juniata River Association discovered sediment-containing water by taking samples from a culvert that drains at Sabbath Rest Road and Old Route 220, before the water ran into wetlands that feed a tributary of Sandy Run- which is a high-quality cold water trout stream. The article goes on to state the DEP now believes Rutter’s has the situation under control.
