Posted on 05/09/2016 9:25:50 PM PDT by george76
$16 million in fines dropped, threats canceled.
A Wyoming rancher threatened by the Environmental Agency with $16 million fines for getting a state permit and building a stock pond on his ranch has reached a settlement that will have the fines go away and he’ll keep his stock pond.
WND reported in 2015 on a lawsuit filed on behalf of Fort Bridger, Wyoming, rancher Andy Johnson by officialsl with the Pacific Legal Foundation seeking to vindicate his property rights.
The lawsuit explained federal law clearly exempts stock ponds from the rules of the EPA, which had filed a compliance order against him threatening $37,500 in fines per day – which already at the time of the filing had passed $16 million.
Now, officials the PLF has announced the federal government has agreed to resolve the case, and a federal court has approved. Importantly, under the settlement, the Johnson family’s pond will remain; they won’t pay any fines; they don’t concede any federal jurisdiction to regulate their pond; and the government won’t pursue any further enforcement actions based on the pond’s construction
...
This is a huge victory for us as well as private property owners across the country. The next family that finds itself in our situation, facing ominous threats from EPA, can take heart in knowing that many of these threats will not come to pass. If, like us, you stand up to the overreaching bureaucrats, they may very well back down
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
I see your point and agree. The EPA tries to intimidate and financially break people into submission.
The EPA employees and lawyers behave as if they have unlimited resources. One thing I believe they’re doing is making sure they’re spending so their budget doesn’t get cut. This so often happens in government .... spend or your budget will get cut.
To do this to innocent families is pure evil.
Each of the EPA officials need to be sued civilly for overstepping and harassment. These people need to have some limits set.
Bet he paid a pond-load of legal bills, though!
Unfortunately, they had to sell off most of their livestock for environmental studies. The EPA are bullies.
Our government is so corrupt they make Mexico’s look like Romper Room.
That's why a few hundred dollars in weapons are needed.
Department of Energy? or Department of Education?
How about both!
Another case...DEC said it was a wetland. I listened to the threast as I sat at the table. The owner showed them 100 year old pictures of the property with buildings and a peach orchard. The owner won.
Chantell and Michael Sackett received a local permit to build a modest three-bedroom home on a half-acre lot in an existing, partially built-out residential subdivision in Priest Lake, Idaho.
The home poses no threat to water quality but federal EPA regulators nonetheless declared their property to contain a wetland and demanded they stop all work and restore the lot to its natural condition or pay fines of up to $75,000 per day. When they sued to challenge this order, EPA asserted they had no right to judicial review. The district court and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, and tossed their lawsuit out of court. The United States Supreme Court unanimously reversed, ruling that failure to allow the lawsuit violated the Sacketts’ constitutional due process rights.
https://pacificlegal.org/case/sackett-v-environmental-protection-agency/
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