环境法律 Eliminates a Floating Junkyard (Part 1 of 2) - 2016年6月

By 吉姆·朗 - 2016年6月

People who own waterfront property need to know how they can protect their property from the threat of ruin when other persons inappropriately and improperly occupy the waterfront adjoining their land.  河岸财产权 are often the greatest element of value for waterfront land.  This article describes how one family used environmental law to protect its $6M property after their neighbor choked off the waterway with a fleet of rusting, 难看的, 破旧的船只.  This article also is of interest to any business or organization facing the threat of environmental citizen suit litigation.  这是2部分文章的第1部分.

The Next Door Neighbor Starts Collecting Ships

The story opens with two properties on a 200+ foot wide fully navigable waterway that offers ready access to the Elizabeth River in Norfolk.  The neighbor who owns  the 1-acre parcel outlined in red in the photo on the right, 我们称他为先生. 收集器, is responsible for 26 of the 30 vessels seen in the photo, 包括所有的大的(e.g. 175英尺及以上).  The neighbor who owns the 7-acre parcel with a black border, 价值600万美元, 负责四艘船, 而且都不是大的.  我们叫他先生。. 地主.  

法律要求的免责声明:

CASE RESULTS DEPEND UPON A VARIETY OF FACTORS UNIQUE TO EACH CASE.  CASE RESULTS DO NOT GUARANTEE OR PREDICT A SIMILAR RESULT IN ANY FUTURE CASE UNDERTAKEN BY THE LAWYER.

法律要求的免责声明结束.

Mr. 地主 Hires Environmental Attorney 吉姆·朗 at Pender & 弗吉尼亚海滩的皇冠线上买球平台

The (Failed) Effort to Secure Assistance From Government Agencies

因为诉讼费用昂贵, I looked for alternative ways to clean up the mess in the water next to Mr. 地主的财产.  Mr. 地主纳税, and the Floating Junkyard is so obviously improper, I believed that the government agencies with jurisdiction could be counted on to help.  我见过市副检察官，联调局的.S. 海岸警卫队，美国海军陆战队.S. 陆军工程兵团, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, 弗吉尼亚海洋皇冠搏彩APP下载委员会, 我联系了你.S. EPA by telephone and email, to show them the photos and to ask them – each of them -- to force Mr. 收集者移除船只.  The bureaucrats at these agencies all said that the problem was most unfortunate.  有人说Mr。. 多年来，收藏家一直是个问题.  One said that this cove "is the worst cove in Norfolk".  But all of them explained that their power to help was extremely limited due to underfunding of their enforcement budgets and other higher priority enforcement matters.  

The (Successful) Effort to Secure Assistance From Television Media

接下来我转向 鲁宾通讯集团 to arrange for television stations to show Mr. 当地媒体上的地主问题 新闻广播.   After the television coverage began to take hold some of the government agencies called a meeting with Mr. 收藏家和, over the next few months he removed a half-dozen of the smallest vessels from the fleet. 

更多的媒体关注和, 几个月后, 其中一个机构, 弗吉尼亚海洋皇冠搏彩APP下载委员会 (VMRC) ordered Mr. 收集器 to remove four vessels "from state-owned bottom".  Mr. 收集器 removed two of the four vessels from the waterway and then he persuaded the VMRC law enforcement officer that the order should be canceled as to the other two vessels because they lift off of the "state-owned bottom" some of the time, after which they settle back onto the river bottom, upon which the VMRC law enforcement officer canceled the order for those two vessels and they remained in the waterway.  These two vessels for which the removal order was canceled were the two largest vessels in the waterway. 

其中一个有245英尺长.

另一个有262英尺长.

Both sat on the river bottom 80% of the time, temporarily lifting off the bottom only when the tides were at the highest level.  I urged the VMRC law enforcement officer to require these ships to be removed from state-owned bottom 100% of the time but got nowhere.  I took the matter up with the Colonel at VMRC who supervised the law enforcement officer but again got nowhere.  The government agencies told me that they had now done all they could do to help Mr. 地主.  The U.S. 海岸警卫队给我寄了一封挂号信, 要求回执, telling me that the Coast Guard will not take any action.  水路上仍然挤满了先生. 收集器's large vessels, several of which were aground.

吉姆·朗彭德尔 & Coward shareholder, focuses his practice on water and environmental law.
有问题可以打电话联系他 (757) 502-7326 或者发邮件给 jlang@powerlinkministries.net.