why all the Sean Parker bashing?
I mean by all means, the guys a douche, but what has he actually done wrong here? Spent a load of money on an extravagant party? What evidence is there here of actual environmental damage? We've got a single paragraph claiming the development somehow causes erosion in the nearby stream, but there's no investigation that's taken place. I see a load of claims about the risks of erosion and how it can damage this endangered species, but no supporting documents, no research, no evidence. Just claims.
They're basically guessing that the development work may have damaged trees and may have caused soil erosion, because they want some money from him. Who's really being d*cks here?
Also, the article is rather misleading to start with, and the mainstream on the whole is being a bit disingenuous here. On the face if it, it looks like Sean Parker has caused a public campsite to be closed... omg! But here's the actual quote..
"Upon staff investigation, it was determined that the public campground has in fact been closed
since September 2007 as a result of a Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board Order
to replace the property’s failed septic systems, and an order to close the campground and limit
Inn capacity issued the County Department of Environmental Health. However, the Ventana
Respondents had failed to request or obtain an amendment at any time over that six-year period."
So it wasn't Sean Parker that closed it, it was closed anyway, and they're annoyed the owner didn't fix it. Having the public campground open was part of the original permit for building.. but there is a question mark around if that was even a legal requirement. Check this case:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nollan_v._California_Coastal_Commission
Similar situation, and CCC loses because the requirement was nothing to do with the work that was being carried out. If the property were built on a public campsite it might be reasonable, but from what I can gather in my limited research, they built on existing private property, expanding it, and the CCC wanted to get something out of it. Then some other government agency comes along and orders the campsite to be shut down, and the owner didn't fix it. Unless part of the agreement was that the owner provides repair work to maintain the campground, I see no reason that he should have been required to fix it.
To me, the real douche's in this story are the CCC. I see little in the way of evidence of environmental damage, all of the work done was cleaned up after, and I see no evidence of Sean Parker having breached any laws. The landowner may have, but under questionable circumstances involving what appears to be a bullying government agency.
CCC's jurisdiction isn't just reliant on a permit not having been sought, they also have to prove initial and ongoing resource damage. To me, this document provides very flaky evidence of damage. So realistically Sean Parker could have saved a lot of money by hiring an environmental expert and a decent lawyer. He wouldn't of course, because the public backlash would be very damaging. So instead he pays the unreasonable fine to make them shut up.
Hmm, not quite as simple a story as it was made out to be.