Septic pumper disciplined for working without a license

Ready Freddy, a Kalispell septic service, will pay a $33,000 penalty for pumping septic tanks without a license for most of 2012, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality said Monday.   

The penalty was part of an agreement reached between the stage agency and business for violating state law.

 Septic pumpers must submit pumping records from the previous year along with their annual license renewal applications. 

Ready Freddy failed to submit the records for its 2012 application, so the state did not issue Ready Freddy a septic pumping license. 

To resolve the violation, Ready Freddy and the state environmental agency entered into a consent order under which Ready Freddy agreed to obtain a license before the start of 2014 and 2015, submit pumping records on a quarterly basis and pay a $33,000 penalty.

The state licensing process is intended to protect human health and the environment, according to Susan Bawden of the state agency’s Enforcement Division.

For questions about septic tank pumping licenses, the public can contact Mary Hendrickson of the Waste and Underground Tank Management Bureau at (406) 444-1808.