Vineyard of Silicon Valley VC hit with $4m in penalties after bulldozing wetland

Re:Vineyard of Silicon Valley VC hit with $4m in penalties a... by olliej on Monday August 05, 2019 @01:12PM (#20615915)

3 million is pittance for people like this.

They should have a fine and be required to fully restore the land they destroyed.

We don’t let someone who stole a tv keep the tv, not should we when they’re stealing public resources.

Otherwise the message is very simple: breaking the law only adds to the construction cost but let’s you keep the construction.

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Re:Vineyard of Silicon Valley VC hit with $4m in penalties a... by sandino on Monday August 05, 2019 @04:13PM (#20618386)

They should have a fine and be required to fully restore the land they destroyed.

No, they shouldn't simply be fined and required to restore the land.

In addition to all of this -- they should be put in jail.

That's the only way these people will begin to get the message.

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Re:Vineyard of Silicon Valley VC hit with $4m in penalties a... by olliej on Monday August 05, 2019 @04:45PM (#20618730)

These people inevitably hide behind companies. The obvious solution is to make executives of companies that commit criminal acts themselves be held criminally liable. After all they've spent decades arguing their grossly disproportionate incomes is due to the "risk" they're taking.

But in the US especially it seems unlikely law makers will ever hold the people who pay them culpable

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Re:Vineyard of Silicon Valley VC hit with $4m in penalties a... by lunias on Monday August 05, 2019 @04:22PM (#20618505)

Agreed. In the event that the land cannot be restored then you should be required to purchase a similarly sized piece of land and donate it to a preservation society. The destroyed land should also be donated.

An eye for an eye doesn't work when one person values their eyes less. The perpetrator must see punishment greater than that experienced by the victim.

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Re:Vineyard of Silicon Valley VC hit with $4m in penalties a... by LegitShady on Monday August 05, 2019 @01:24PM (#20616071)

They can't restore it in that location as its been so heavily disturbed, but offsite compensation is common in industry.

That being said, where I live the people involved would have likely risked real jail time.

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Re:Vineyard of Silicon Valley VC hit with $4m in penalties a... by olliej on Monday August 05, 2019 @02:47PM (#20617175)

Wetland restoration is possible, it just takes years and years, but is possible, and will cost real amounts of money.

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Re:Vineyard of Silicon Valley VC hit with $4m in penalties a... by LegitShady on Thursday August 08, 2019 @06:42PM (#20649626)

I work in industry that deals with that all the time. I'm saying that compensation can happen off site (Creating a wetland elsewhere in compensation for habitat lost) in many cases when the original wetland is already beyond saving.

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