Refuse to Create a Querella
At 2:45 my lawyer said to file a querella with the DNER at the Vigilantes Office on Culebra to formerly document the complaint about earth moving with heavy equipment last Friday and Playa Mosquito. There was no implementation of erosion control.
She said if you don't file a formal querella, there is no formal track record of the complaint at the DNER office. This is never easy and today I was not successful.
I got there about 3:15 and requested and requested until 4:00 when they were leaving. No formal complaint was recorded. However, at least they were nice.
Sgt. Feliciano said we should have called on Friday to file the complaint. I explained that I tried but no one was in the office (they got in late becuase it was a holiday.)
He checked his log and confirmed that 10:00 am was first recorded call.
In the phone log was a formal complaint issued by ACDEC, but it is my understanding from this conversation they did not file a formal querella, so my question is, does the complaint go on DNER record?
The Vigilante felt that on Friday the agency successfully intervened and so therefor there was no need for a formal querella.
I explained they may have intervened but if the earth moving took place without at permiso simple and erosin control, what will become of the violation if there is no written record? He said that although he was not involved on Friday, a permiso simple was not needed for the earth they moved. It gets better. . .
I saw no record in the log book of the communication with USFWS Refuge Manager. I called the Refuge Manager on Friday morning by cell phone and she notified the Vigilantes. She does not have jurisdiction here, this it totally DNER. I am confident the local refuge manager contacted them and believe USFWS made a site visit last Friday. I am not confident there is a record of this in the DNER office.
So here we have citizen trying to contact DNER but not successful and two agencies contacting DNER, which there may also not be written record of with DNER. I asked ACDEC on Monday if they had a Permiso Simple, and Hilda Avila from ACDEC told me that they had no permits...nothing.
Today this is what Sgt. Feliciano told me:
1. The property owners had a certificate from the Puerto Rico Institute of Culture. (Remember, there has been no "dig" to find the Taino shell middens unearthed by the well diggers a few years ago and reported in writing to the institute and to Feds. The artifacts were first documented in the area by a Federally comissioned study.
Friday, Taino relics were unearthed by the digger and despite word from agencies that the operator had been stopped, he continued to operate on the beach until 4:30 pm.
ACDEC believed the digger stopped until a DNER Tech came over from the big island to investigate the activity.
2. The Vigilante confirmed that the property owners were clearing for a road, and said he saw permits.........so this is a mystery....since no plans TO OUR KNOWLEDGE have crossed the desk of the coastal zone people. The last plans placed a road inside the wetlands and we understand that the Corps of Engineers has not issued permits for a road to pass through this wetlands.
The last thing this area needs is another unplanned, unengineered illegal road....especially one that impacts the wetlands...check out what current roads are doing to this bay and critical habitat. Please see http://mosquitobaysediment.blogspot.com
3. The Vigilante said there was also a certificate or letter from Army Corps of Engineers when the Corps is telling us that they still need to schedule a site visit before they officially delineate the wetlands! What document are they talking about and shouldn't the other agencies have by now all these permits for validation? We sent a FOIA to the Corps just to make sure that there is no document in the office of the Vigilantes that permits this work in the wetlands.
4. The Vigilante said the technico came back for a site visit on Tuesday Nov 25th, but we see no delineation concsistent with definition of the zmt / public domain on the beach.
I tried to get the name of the Tech and the office the tech came from the Vigilante, but he said he did not have this information.
She said if you don't file a formal querella, there is no formal track record of the complaint at the DNER office. This is never easy and today I was not successful.
I got there about 3:15 and requested and requested until 4:00 when they were leaving. No formal complaint was recorded. However, at least they were nice.
Sgt. Feliciano said we should have called on Friday to file the complaint. I explained that I tried but no one was in the office (they got in late becuase it was a holiday.)
He checked his log and confirmed that 10:00 am was first recorded call.
In the phone log was a formal complaint issued by ACDEC, but it is my understanding from this conversation they did not file a formal querella, so my question is, does the complaint go on DNER record?
The Vigilante felt that on Friday the agency successfully intervened and so therefor there was no need for a formal querella.
I explained they may have intervened but if the earth moving took place without at permiso simple and erosin control, what will become of the violation if there is no written record? He said that although he was not involved on Friday, a permiso simple was not needed for the earth they moved. It gets better. . .
I saw no record in the log book of the communication with USFWS Refuge Manager. I called the Refuge Manager on Friday morning by cell phone and she notified the Vigilantes. She does not have jurisdiction here, this it totally DNER. I am confident the local refuge manager contacted them and believe USFWS made a site visit last Friday. I am not confident there is a record of this in the DNER office.
So here we have citizen trying to contact DNER but not successful and two agencies contacting DNER, which there may also not be written record of with DNER. I asked ACDEC on Monday if they had a Permiso Simple, and Hilda Avila from ACDEC told me that they had no permits...nothing.
Today this is what Sgt. Feliciano told me:
1. The property owners had a certificate from the Puerto Rico Institute of Culture. (Remember, there has been no "dig" to find the Taino shell middens unearthed by the well diggers a few years ago and reported in writing to the institute and to Feds. The artifacts were first documented in the area by a Federally comissioned study.
Friday, Taino relics were unearthed by the digger and despite word from agencies that the operator had been stopped, he continued to operate on the beach until 4:30 pm.
ACDEC believed the digger stopped until a DNER Tech came over from the big island to investigate the activity.
2. The Vigilante confirmed that the property owners were clearing for a road, and said he saw permits.........so this is a mystery....since no plans TO OUR KNOWLEDGE have crossed the desk of the coastal zone people. The last plans placed a road inside the wetlands and we understand that the Corps of Engineers has not issued permits for a road to pass through this wetlands.
The last thing this area needs is another unplanned, unengineered illegal road....especially one that impacts the wetlands...check out what current roads are doing to this bay and critical habitat. Please see http://mosquitobaysediment.blogspot.com
3. The Vigilante said there was also a certificate or letter from Army Corps of Engineers when the Corps is telling us that they still need to schedule a site visit before they officially delineate the wetlands! What document are they talking about and shouldn't the other agencies have by now all these permits for validation? We sent a FOIA to the Corps just to make sure that there is no document in the office of the Vigilantes that permits this work in the wetlands.
4. The Vigilante said the technico came back for a site visit on Tuesday Nov 25th, but we see no delineation concsistent with definition of the zmt / public domain on the beach.
I tried to get the name of the Tech and the office the tech came from the Vigilante, but he said he did not have this information.
posted by CORALations at 5:30 PM
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