An Airbnb “superhost” has shaken off a $250,000 fine for building a massive concrete bulkhead that killed salmon and threatened whales in one of America’s most spectacular Ice Age fjords.
Philip Bayley is charging up to $1,500 a night for his rental properties on the banks of Hood Canal, west of Seattle.
A judge has ruled he can keep the 50-square-metre defensive barrier at the back of a building, saying removing it would cause further damage to nature.
The case has baffled environmentalists, who have warned that fines are considered the cost of doing business in a stretch of water where a third of the coastline is already walled.
“We have to stop the bleeding,” said Dave Herrera of the Puget Sound Partnership, “what I see is a lot of entitlement.”
The 6,200 cubic yards of concrete were poured onto the bank of Hood Canal in Washington
The Ice Age fjord west of Seattle is a popular spot for wealthy vacationers and teems with wildlife, attracting high prices for rental apartments
Joseph Pavel, director of the Department of Natural Resources for the Skokomish Indian Tribe, called the development an example of “ongoing microcolonialism.”
Bayley started pouring concrete in 2017 after receiving a land use permit from Mason County.
Within days, he had obtained a stop-work order from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), warning that he had violated the Clean Water Act.
He ignored that and a series of further orders, and continued building until the agency took him to court in 2020.
“It wasn’t something we let him do; he did it despite the fact that we told him not to,” EPA attorney Patrick Johnson told the newspaper Seattle Times.
“It didn’t seem like he really cared about our requests, or the number of messages showing he was in violation.”
According to court records, construction involved dumping dirt, dredged material, rock and concrete along the shoreline and into the water.
And it ended up as 6,200 cubic yards of concrete sticking into the water, adding 570 square feet of living space to the new luxury home behind it.
Concrete bulkheads alter the flow of sediment along the shoreline, but their effects extend deep beneath the water, reducing beachside spawning areas for the smallest fish by removing sand and gravel near shore.
Feeding grounds are eroded and nutrients from the land cannot reach the water, causing a domino effect up the food chain, from the smallest organisms to the orcas that inhabit the bay.
Bayley’s legal team admitted in court that construction was killing Chinook salmon, further depleting the water’s already struggling ecosystem.
Tons of dirt, dredged material, rock and concrete flowed into the bay after construction began
The bay is a hunting ground for endangered orcas, but their food supply has already been affected
The scale of the project shocked EPA inspectors when they saw it taking shape in 2018
The three-meter-high wall has an increased acidity of the water that falls on it
Owner Philip Bayley started in 2017 with an empty lot (middle), but also owns the two Airbnb rental properties on the right: ‘Wall of Glass’ and ‘Luxury Look-out’
The view from the adjacent apartment, also owned by Philip Bayley, as seen at Airbnb
“It’s death by a thousand cuts,” said Joseph Pavel, director of the Skokomish Indian Tribe’s Department of Natural Resources.
‘All this has been going on for so long and it makes it very difficult to deal with these problems.
“But we are trying to slow the damage being done to our resources and the resources of all people.”
Bayley’s attorneys argued that the bulkhead is above the high tide line and therefore the EPA has no jurisdiction.
“You can’t have a violation of the Clean Water Act if there’s no water,” attorney Christopher Constantine argued.
But the EPA told the court that the concrete is covered in barnacles, algae and water stains, and that the water reaching it has become dangerously acidic.
Bayley and his company, Big D’s Beach Cabin LLC, have waged a persistent rearguard action in court, appealing in April an interim ruling with objections that the judge denounced as “completely baseless and unworthy of consideration.” to take’.
But the EPA claimed victory in January after Bayley was fined $250,000 and ordered to pay $33,492 to the Hood Canal Coordinating Council for mitigation work by the US District Court for the Western District of Washington.
Dave Herrera of the Puget Sound Partnership says the bay is bleeding to death
“This underscores our collective efforts to recover Chinook, orca pods that depend on them; this is an all-hands-on-deck moment,” said EPA Administrator Casey Sixkiller.
“This is not only an investment in resource recovery, but also ensures we enforce the law and ban illegal projects like this.”
The fjord was at the center of the northwestern heat wave in July 2021, when temperatures reached 121 degrees and thousands of mussels ‘cooked in their shells’ were found on the shoreline.
And Herrera said local environmental battles play a role in the larger challenge of climate change.
“I’m not sure how the landowners will deal with things like rising sea levels,” he mused.
“Do people think they’re just going to add to their bulkheads?”
Bayley has appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and said he is in no rush to pay the fines.
“I haven’t even thought about that,” he told the Seattle Times.
“I’m just waiting patiently.”
Pavel rejected the fine, describing the case as an example of “ongoing microcolonialism of developing and trying to take ownership of the landscape.”
“He’ll be able to do that in five years,” he added.
‘That is not allowed and that is not allowed and that is not allowed.’