Posted on 05/29/2021 2:46:41 PM PDT by george76
Sioux Falls, South Dakota; : A third-generation farmer filed a lawsuit today against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is unlawfully preventing him from farming one of his fields.
In 2011, a division of the Department of Agriculture ruled that a small seasonal mud puddle on Arlen Foster’s farm is protected by federal law as a wetland. Even though the federal government has no authority to regulate such puddles, the department is forcing Foster to choose between productively using his field or participating in federal programs for farmers, like crop insurance.
“The government lacks the authority to insist that he leave the mud puddle ‘muddy,’ so it’s threatening to take away Foster’s ability to participate in federal programs to achieve the outcome that it wants,” said Tony Francois, a senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation. “But Foster has a right to use his property, and coercing him in this way violates his right.”
Although Foster requested that the government revisit its designation of his mud puddle as a protected wetland, in light of new evidence to the contrary, it refused. Now Foster is suing over the unconstitutional conditions the agency is attaching to his participation in crop insurance and other federal programs.
Foster is represented free of charge by Pacific Legal Foundation. The case, Foster v. U.S. Department of Agriculture, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota.
Bkmk
All these agencies with names that are supposedly to promote things beut only exist to empower bureaucrat tyrants. Who has the Dept of Education educated? What energy has the Dept. of Energy produced?
I have a big mud puddle on my property from all the rain. If I promise not to farm in my puddle or the surrounding useless mud, can it be protected by federal law as a wetland? Or is the gov not interested in those who don’t want to farm around their puddles?
Should I notify the Dept of Agriculture that I have a puddle? If I do, can I get federal crop insurance for my tomato plants? (They are in buckets, NOT in the puddle.) I want to do the right thing!
This poor guy has been dealing with this for the last 10 years. If he would've shot the first bureaucrat to trespass on his property......he probably could've worked a plea deal to have
#1 been out of prison by now
#2 expedited things to have spent less in lawyer fees
#3 probably discouraged anyone else from lurking around the property.......
Pretty convenient for the Federal government, no?
It was a bizarre twist, but there are no coincidences.
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