Hampshire County man sentenced for Clean Water Act violations

MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Timothy Peer, of Springfield, West Virginia, was sentenced to five years probation and fined $24,000 for violating permits and discharging untreated sewage from his sewage treatment plant, United States Attorney Bill Powell announced.

Peer, age 56, was the owner of Mountainaire Village Utility, LLC, a sewage water treatment plant serving the residents of Mountainaire Village near Ridgeley, West Virginia. Peer owned and operated this business from early 2008 to July 2016. Peer pled guilty to one count of “Knowing Violation of Permit Conditions” and one count of “False Statements on Discharge Monitoring Reports” in April 2019. 

From 2014 to 2016, Peer admitted to failing to maintain the treatment plant, resulting in untreated and undertreated sewage being discharged into the North Branch of the Potomac River, violating the Clean Water Act and his permit. Peer also admitted to falsely reporting quarterly testing on the wastewater from the plant.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David J. Perri and Special Assistant United States Attorney Perry McDaniel, with the Southern District of West Virginia U.S. Attorney’s Office, prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The Environmental Protection Agency and the West Virginia Department of Environment Protection investigated. 

Chief U.S. District Judge Gina M. Groh presided.