03/20/2007

Editorial

Feds, state must get tough on those bulldozing beach

"Sincere apologies" don't cut it. Fines and a criminal conviction might.

Last November the new owners of the Cherry Tree Inn on East Bay sent a bulldozer into the bay to plow down marsh grass in an effort to turn the emerging wetland into a beach. No permits, no notification. Nada.

Now they say they're sorry. But they also want 95 percent of the illegal grading and plowing they did to be approved after the fact. Now that's remorse.

The answer from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must be more than just a resounding "no”; the Corps must also issue a fine so stiff that Omni and other beachfront owners will think twice about openly defying state and federal environmental laws.

This was not a mistake or misunderstanding or something other than a deliberate act. The work was done over the Thanksgiving weekend by a firm out of Columbus, Ohio, when state and federal regulators were likely at home eating turkey. Omni President Joe Moffa denied bulldozers had entered the water until witnesses provided photographic and video evidence showing that, yes, that was a bulldozer and, yes, it was in the bay.

"We were just manicuring our beach,” he said.

The reality is that Omni didn't have state or federal permits for the work and knew it — or should have known it, particularly given the track record of previous owner Michael MacColeman, who had aggressively lobbied federal officials to expand his grooming permit from 133 feet of beachfront to 200 feet.

Now, according to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers documents obtained by the Record-Eagle, Omni wants the Corps to approve a restoration plan that would require the firm to reseed just .08 acres of the 1.6 acres the company now admits it bulldozed.

The Corps and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality have both rejected the plan, and the Corps says it wants to talk to Omni. The DEQ has, rightly, referred the case to its criminal division and the Michigan attorney general for possible criminal prosecution.

That may sound harsh; some would argue that this is just a few weeds, after all. The reality, however, is that low Great Lakes water levels have created similar circumstances all over Michigan, and the state must take a stand. The commitment to the environment must be absolute; it is our biggest single resource and the state has an obligation to protect it on behalf of all Michigan citizens, not just those who own lakefront land.

If fines and jail time are what it takes to do that, so be it.