Veteran NASCAR driver Sterling Marlin has agreed to pay fines for two instances of allowing fill dirt to be dumped into a stream, according to a state order.
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and Marlin came to an agreement Tuesday for Marlin to pay $8,655 for violating water quality laws, spokesperson Meg Lockhart said.
According to TDEC’s order, Marlin’s development on Nashville Highway and Columbia Rock Road dumped fill dirt into Haley Branch. The violation was discovered at a TDEC inspection on Feb. 14, 2007.
Marlin’s construction operation stopped dumping fill dirt into the stream by March 2007 and a permit was issued by TDEC.
Marlin and his Nashville attorney William Penny met with TDEC officials and agreed on the fine for the Nashville Highway violation and one other on Cranford Hollow Road, Lockhart said.
TDEC issued the second violation on June 21, 2007, saying its inspectors observed grading activities exceeding one acre and saw sediment eroding from a cleared hillside into a tributary of Bear Creek.
In August, Marlin told The Daily Herald he was not polluting the water and was clearing land for a farm.
Marlin declined comment on the settlement.
State law requires a person to obtain a permit from TDEC before discharging any substances into the waters of the state.
The NASCAR driver has had TDEC orders submitted against him in May 2006 and paid a $2,500 fine, a TDEC enforcement manager said
