Stiff fines approved for boating violators

Monday, Nov. 12, 2001 | 8:20 a.m.

Lake Mead boating enthusiasts who stray within a half mile of Hoover Dam are now subject to stiff civil and criminal penalties, thanks to a new U.S. Coast Guard regulation.

The Coast Guard last week gave the National Park Service authority to issue civil penalties of as much as $27,500 per violation and criminal penalties of up to six years in prison and $250,000 in fines for breaches of the lake's security zones.

The park service, which patrols the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, has had security zones at the lake for several years, but violators faced only minor penalties. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the park service stepped up manned patrols of the security zones near the dam but still had authority to cite violators only for nominal penalties, recreation area spokesman Bert Byers said.

The Coast Guard was able to approve a sharp increase in those penalties because it has authority over navigable interstate waters, Coast Guard Lt. Ben Benson of the Marine Safety Office in San Diego said. The lake, which is part of the Colorado River system, falls under that authority.

"When Sept. 11 hit we had to review the safety and security of our operations," Benson said. "The Department of Interior and the Coast Guard each have jurisdiction in this matter."

Byers said the security zones are marked by barriers that are strung along the lake. Manned park service vessels constantly patrol the area between the barriers and the dam, he said.

The new regulation, which remains in effect at least through May 5, also applies to security zones for the Davis Dam south of Laughlin in Arizona and the Glen Canyon Dam on the Utah-Arizona border.