According to court documents, construction of the bulkhead began Aug. 1, 2017. Within days, the Corps of Engineers notified the defendants the construction violated the Clean Water Act. A stop-work order was later issued and other orders directed the defendants to remove concrete from the beach.
It’s about 9 feet tall and 46 feet long, nestled within the waterway. Construction of the bulkhead began in 2017, and it allowed for the property owner to build bigger, adding 570 square feet of living space to the 3,000-square-foot home, according to federal court records.
On July 26, 2018, the EPA issued a notice of violation, stating construction of the bulkhead violated the Clean Water Act, and told Bayley he must remedy the situation or face enforcement action. Still the construction went on.
It also killed Chinook salmon, caused permanent environmental damage and was built without a necessary federal permit, the Environmental Protection Agency determined. In November, a federal judge levied nearly $300,000 in fines and fees against Joan Bayley, her son, Philip Bayley, and Big D’s Beach Cabin LLC of Union, Mason County.
Despite the lack of permits and environmental damage, the bulkhead and home above it can stay after consultants for the EPA deemed it would cause more destruction to take it out. And Bayley retains ownership.
Rich people ignore the rules and get away with killing a sensative environment. Nice. :/
Again
It’s weird seeing OP posting positively about successful law enforcement, instead of the usual ACAB-posting.
Rich people blowing off the rules to destroy environments has nothing to do with cops. That’s the difference.
It has everything to do with cops if someone enforces those rules, though.
thats not a fine, thats the cost of doing successful business
Yeah. The fine should cover the cost of mitigation, plus punitive damages. And any further permits should be denied.
I might even say they should seize at least the unpermitted construction. If it’s not their primary residence, seize the whole thing.
They should have been stripped of their property ownership. They should never be allowed to own property again, of any sort.
This just means it cost an extra 300k. That’s not even much of a penalty.
“Punishable by a fine” means “legal for rich people.”
Seizing the property is reasonable. I’d go for that and feeding these assholes to the orcas they deprived of food.
free version:
~$300,000.00 fine is nothing … it is just more space for criminals to launder more money in my humble opinion.
The article mentions that he owns a rental house next door to the illegal bulkhead available for $1500/night for vacations. He’ll leech back this fine in 200 days.
That’s assuming it’s occupied every night and has no overhead costs.
What incredible assholes.
What’s a bulkhead? I’ve never heard of that before
It’s one of those infuriating words that means something different in every single industry.
gaming the system 101
Sure would be a shame if someone damaged the bulkhead. Especially since some consultants said it would cause more destruction.
