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Talk about a broken system! 🤦♂️ An environmental lawyer and campaigner in the UK is facing up to two years in prison and could potentially lose his job for the “crime” of… cleaning up a highly polluted local river.
Paul Powlesland, 40, and a group of volunteers from the River Roding Trust took matters into their own hands after years of begging the government to act. They spent their own money, hired a digger for £1,000, and spent 10 days removing over 200 bags of garbage, needles, and toxic sludge from London’s River Roding. As a result of their hard work, wildlife and fish finally started returning to the waters.
But instead of a medal, Paul received a legal threat! The UK’s Environment Agency (EA) sent him a letter stating he is under criminal investigation for conducting “unpermitted works” and “operating without a licence.” According to the agency, removing trash and silt without bureaucratic paperwork is a strict offense that carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison.
The ultimate irony? Paul points out that while the agency is busy threatening volunteers with prison for restoring nature, massive water corporations are legally allowed to dump billions of liters of raw sewage into the very same river.
📍 London, United Kingdom 🇬🇧