New DC law seeks to sue illegal dumpers for damages and clean up costs

WASHINGTON — DC's City Council has passed a law that will give the city’s attorney general new powers to hold dumpers accountable because the threat of criminal charges has not been enough.

The threat of criminal prosecution, jail time, and neighbors with cameras trying to collect evidence has not been an effective deterrent, according to Dolly Davis, the President of Pope Branch Park Restoration Alliance.

Davis calls the illegal dumping that happens near the park and open space near Fairlawn Avenue Southeast in here neighborhood “environmental apartheid."

The act gives DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb the power to sue illegal dumpers for:

In testimony for the bill, The Attorney General’s office wrote: “Civil lawsuits are a critically important enforcement tool” that will help ensure dumpers “do not escape accountability where criminal prosecution may be inappropriate or infeasible or where administrative fines may be insufficient.”

Davis says she  can’t wait for the first case.

“Fine them!" Davis declared. "Take everything they have! If they’re a business, I want to lean on their business. I want their vehicles seized. I want their property seized. I want everything they own seized. That will send a message to let them know you can no longer feel comfortable dumping in our community.”

Ward 8 Woods Conservancy Executive Director Nathan Harrington applauded the new law but expressed concern.

“DC police and U.S. Park Police have been falling down on the job, so the AG's office's involvement is welcome," Harrington said.

"To be effective, they'll need boots on the ground to gather evidence, and I'm worried they won't have the necessary resources.”

Schwalb, Harrington and Davis credited Ward 7 Council Member Vince Gray for authoring the new law.