Imagine being fined $1.9 million for trying to prevent a catastrophic wildfire that would destroy lives and property in Pacific Palisades.

That’s what happened to the city of Los Angeles, specifically the city-owned Department of Water and Power, in 2020. The California Coastal Commission fined LADWP for the work it had started in Topanga State Park in 2019 to improve fire safety. The utility was replacing old wooden power poles, widening roads for fire department access and replacing power wires to improve their resistance to wind and fire.

It just so happened that a hiker and amateur botanist, walking through the park, saw the LADWP work in progress and reported what a spokesperson for the Coastal Commission called “unpermitted bulldozing through an area of endangered plants and hiking

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