Work Crew's Tahoe Boulder Antics Could Lead To Civil Penalties

LAKE TAHOE (CBS13) — Video has surfaced of a work crew sending a massive boulder tumbling down a hillside near Emerald Bay in South Lake Tahoe.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency says it found evidence the boulder damaged the mountain slope and trees below Highway 89.

Officials say the Redding-based contractor could now face civil penalties for causing environmental damage to the site.

Investigators are now reviewing the video where a Stewart Engineering highway contractor laughs as a giant slab of rock tumbles down a hill below Highway 89, taking out trees and flattening shrubs.

Caltrans hired the company for $4 million to do road improvements on a portion of the highway at Emerald Bay and install a 192-foot retaining wall. It was supposed to be finished the day after the video was shot in May.

Caltrans has hired an arborist to see what vegetation needs to be replanted or replaced and to develop a plan to make sure the picturesque part of Northern California is restored to its former glory.