
Vineyard of Silicon Valley VC hit with $4m in penalties after bulldozing wetland - el_benhameen
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/9858279-181/vineyard-of-silicon-valley-investor?sba=AAS
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FreedomToCreate
There is a good chance they knew that and the fee is cheaper than spending
money to convince the county to allow them to build (ex. paying for
environmental studies and permits)

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xenospn
They’re a VC. Managing risk is what they do.

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olliej
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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sandino
_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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olliej
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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rdtwo
That was probably a smart move on the contractors part. They would have never
been able to get permits for that stuff and it would have taken years. Filling
in wetlands is almost always the right thing to do economically

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Tiktaalik
Sure let's fuck over the habitat of migratory birds because it's "the right
thing economically". Who cares the consequences?

What a psycho thing to think. Fuck off.

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rdtwo
Incentives drive behaviors, this is true everywhere. If the fines are less
than the benefits X odds of getting caught then the behaviors will continue.
In this case they should have been forced to restore wetlands in place or
forfeit the land. This minor fine is just the cost of doing business

