EAST ST. LOUIS – Petroff Trucking, which dissolved while defending a claim that it destroyed wetlands along Cahokia Canal, would prefer settlement to judgment.
Petroff counsel Thomas Maag of Wood River moved to stay the proceedings on April 22, stating he and the U.S. government expect to resolve the case shortly.
Maag filed the motion rather than respond to a government motion calling for Petroff to pay a penalty from its remaining assets of $581,821.
He wrote that Petroff “does not have sufficient assets to spend on matters that can be avoided.”
Petroff bought 23 acres on Madison Road in East St. Louis in 2016, to carry out a contract for covering a nearby landfill.
The government sued Petroff in 2020, claiming it cleared, graded, and dredged wetlands in violation of the Clean Water Act.
Maag moved to dismiss the suit, claiming the canal wasn’t subject to the Act. He described it as a drainage ditch that doesn’t drain into the Mississippi River.
District Judge David Dugan denied the motion last year.
This January, Dugan ordered Petroff to produce tax returns, loan documents, and asset sale information.
Benjamin Grillot of the Justice Department in Washington moved for summary judgment in March.
He claimed Petroff might have saved $750,000 on hauling costs by using soil it obtained close to the landfill.
He claimed it destroyed one of the last remnants of the American Bottom wetlands.
Penalties for the alleged violations could have exceeded $60 million.