• lividweasel@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    The main issue is that he used heavy machinery for cleanup. If it was by hand it probably wouldn’t have resulted in any legal matter

    Yeah, he went way beyond simply removing trash:

    The team removed more than 200 bags of rubbish along with branches, thick layers of silt, weeds, discarded household appliances, used needles and even abandoned weapons. Their goal was to restore the natural flow of the water and remove years of accumulated waste.

    He basically dug up the entire riverbed. That isn’t something people should just be doing ad-hoc.

    • ghurab@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      He basically dug up the entire riverbed. That isn’t something people should just be doing ad-hoc.

      Fully agree, but there seems to be no better alternative.

      Powlesland told the Guardian he’s asked the agency numerous times to clean the river, but it’s been ignoring him for years.

        • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          or the environmental agency has other more pressing matters to attend to in its 50-year plan, and dredging the river there could drastically disrupt their flood planning.

          my county’s 50-year plan just finished. we just turned the entire damn county from a 10-year floodplain to a 100-year floodplain (by dredging creeks and digging new canals). It took fifty. damn. years. Easiest way to tell who was a local was who was celebrating when they finished.