My story on the referral of environmental violations at Fones Cliffs in Richmond County, Va., to the state attorney general is out at the Virginia Mercury today. Check it out here.

Developer's environmental violations at historic Richmond County cliffs referred to attorney general - Virginia Mercury
Environmental violations at the site of a planned luxury golf course development, where illegally cleared land has caused the culturally, biologically and historically significant Fones Cliffs above the Rappahannock River to erode, have been referred to Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring for enforcement.

A four-mile stretch of land above the Rappahannock River, Fones Cliffs are notable for their white coloration, which is due to the presence of diatomaceous earth, and for the large concentration of bald eagles that both live at the site and migrate there throughout the year.
In November 2017, Richmond County issued a stop-work order against Virginia True, which has proposed the golf resort and hundreds of housing units for the site, after it cleared 13.5 acres of forested land near the cliffs without a permit. Since then, significant erosion has occurred on the site, including landslides from the cliffs into the Rappahannock below.