Speilvogel & Sons Excavating, Inc. will pay back more than $25,000 in surcharges, court costs and forfeitures for allegedly improperly installing a retaining structure on Lake Michigan, Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen announced on Monday.
The company was issued a permit by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to place a revetment, which is a structure made of stone, along the shoreline of Lake Michigan in Ozaukee County. The structure was meant to protect the shore against erosion from waves and the current.
Speilvogel & Sons allegedly violated the permit by not minimizing erosion and siltation as the company was contracted to do. It also allegedly failed to compact clay underneath the structure, and allegedly failed to use clean stone for traction on an access road adjacent to the structure and shoreline, opting instead to use steel slag.
To ensure the fragile bluffs along Lake Michigan remain stable, the state has strenuous requirements for companies applying for permits to work along the bluffs.
The Ozaukee County Circuit Court ruled that Speilvogel & Sons violated those requirements.