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DWP bulldozing of wetlands gets it a $5 million penalty
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(Bryan Frank via Flickr Creative Commons)
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The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power got cited by the EPA a couple of years ago for bulldozing eight acres of wetlands the utility owns in Granada Hills. This week, DWP agreed to pay penalties of more than $5 million.
The wetlands were within the Van Norman Complex, on what was a DWP reservoir before the 1971 Sylmar earthquake. DWP bulldozers graded the area to unblock a drain. But it’s a violation of the federal Clean Water Act to disturb wetlands whose waters drain into local creeks or the Los Angeles River.
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