Contractor blamed for dumping sludge into Bullitt County creek making millions on taxpayer-funded jobs

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The state contractor blamed for thousands of gallons of construction waste ending up in a Bullitt County creek has 26 contracts for taxpayer-funded jobs in Kentucky.

A search of the commonwealth's transparency website show Bluegrass Contracting agreements total more than $6 million.

It's biggest deal is for four miles of concrete repairs on Poplar Level Road in Louisville, the same project in which Bluegrass Contracting now faces environmental violations and serious fines from regulators.

"I don't know of any other problems," Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Spokeswoman Andrea Clifford said.

The problem now is slurry, concrete dust that forms a thick pasty sludge with water that's leftover after grinding or cutting a new street surface.

The sludge from Bluegrass Contracting's $4 million taxpayer funded on Poplar Level Road ended up in Blue Lick Creek. The contractor made an agreement with a property owner to dump the sludge off Brooks Hill Road about 20 minutes from the construction site in Bullitt County. Pictures and video show the tanker butted up to the edge of a hillside.

Gravity took hold, the slurry flowed down and plunged into the creek. The water flows through a woodland terrain, heavily populated with wildlife and fish where certain stretches are tough to reach on foot. As Wendy Geary hiked the 11 creek-side acres her family owns, she could see massive clumps of the construction waste clouding up the water.

"It's just disgusting, just disgusting," Geary said. "And to hear that it comes from Jefferson County is even more disgusting. They're a bigger county than us. They should be leading by example not sending their [EXPLETIVE] over the hill."

Slurry in Blue Lick Creek in Bullitt County

The dumping came to light earlier this week when one of Bluegrass Contracting's tankers got stuck in the mud during a dump. Witnesses took pictures and posted it to social media.

School bus driver Mike Spanton heads to work before dawn each day and said he started noticing bright lights and a tanker truck on his route off Brooks Hill Road around March 18.

"It was like three times a week," Spanton said. "I was like, 'Why are they doing this in the cover of darkness?'"

Spanton captured video of the Bluegrass Contracting tanker on the dump sight property March 23 and called the EPA but said after being passed to several lines, he didn't leave a message.

Division of Water officials said 41 truck loads, each carrying thousands of gallons of slurry, were dumped at the site.

"From our perspective, it doesn't matter, because whether it was a mistake or it was negligence, it has to be cleaned up," Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet Spokesman John Mura said.

Cleanup falls on the hands of the contractor. Mura said Bluegrass Contracting must submit a plan for removing the slurry from the creek and restoring it to its natural state to the commonwealth in the coming days. In the meantime, work started Thursday to prevent further damage. Crews started placing barriers in the creek, fearful the slurry would continue to move down stream with a big rain.

"One idea being considered is pushing the sludge to collection points in the creek and then vacuuming it out," Mura said.

Directors of the Kentucky Division of Waste Management and Division of Water met with leaders from Bluegrass Contracting on Thursday.

Despite repeated messages to Bluegrass Contracting, its President/Owner Mark Johnson has not returned calls to WDRB News for comment in this story.

Mura said fines from the state could amount to $25,000 a day per violation.

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