The developer of the nationally lauded but controversial Hell’s Kitchen geothermal and lithium extraction project near the Salton Sea illegally drained 1,200 acres of fragile wetlands by dumping dredged fill nearby, according to a settlement agreement announced on Thursday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The work was performed on leased Imperial Irrigation District land as part of Controlled Thermal Resources’ Hells Kitchen pilot project west of Niland — on hold due to an unrelated lawsuit — which aims to produce 49.9 megawatts of steam power and 20,000 tons of lithium annually. The project is the first stage of much larger planned production of the mineral, which is used in everything from commercial solar projects to to smart phones.