Going to Extremes: EPA Fines Small Rancher 37.5K a Day for Buildinga Stock Pond on His 8 Acre Property

Posted by Tina

We heard about this case in comments last week but it’s back in the news today and it occurred to me that it definitely for an extreme action by the so-called servants of the people in our federal government:

Farmer Andy Johnson hasn’t sent millions of gallons of gold-mine wastewater down any rivers, but he’s facing more than $16 million in fines from the Environmental Protection Agency for running afoul of the Clean Water Act.

His violation? In 2012, Mr. Johnson built a stock pond for his horses and cattle on his 8-acre property in Fort Bridger, Wyoming.

Even though the Clean Water Act exempts stock ponds, and Mr. Johnson had obtained the necessary state permits, the EPA ordered him in January 2014 to restore the area to its original condition or accumulate fines of $37,500 a day. Instead, Mr. Johnson hired a lawyer.

How does the EPA justify such idiocy? What possible harm can a small pond, built to water cattle cause an environmental problem? Well, the fact is…it doesn’t! This is another example of the extreme left’s radical ways. They have taken control of the Democrat Party and, as they always do, have set about bullying citizens from their lofty positions of power.

Environmental extremists have been claiming world wide disaster since the seventies. Doom is always right around the corner. How many people have been harmed over more than four decades through this type of harassment, ridiculous regulations, extra taxes that choke off business, policies that eliminate jobs and do absolutely nothing except line the pockets of radical activists and the already bloated governments in the world. These people are vile blood suckers that produce nothing but misery…and get paid well for it from the fruits of our labors.

Radical leadership leads to tyranny and totalitarianism. Mr Obama and the extremists that serve him (instead of the people) has put us on a fast track toward that miserable dead end. It’s a sad state of affairs when we discover that those we have put in power are our enemies. The candidates for President under the Democrat mantle are all socialists, green sympathizers, and the UN resolutions that threaten our sovereignty and our freedoms.

The stock pond Johnson built is fed from a creek that flows from the Green River, one of the protected “navigable, interstate water of the United States” established by Bill Clinton in cahoots with the UN back in 1997. Using language such as “the emerging international system,” Bill Clinton “enthusiastically described the treaties which are locking the United States into a network of global entanglements: the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Chemical Weapons Convention, “binding international commitments to protect the environment” (i.e,, the Global Warming Treaty), and the NATO Expansion Treaty.” The EPA’s treatment of Mr. Johnson flows from this so-called vision for a “reorganization of the world.”

Conservation is supported by the American people. The people also want reason and common sense to guide our leaders. In future let’s NOT go to extremes!

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9 Responses to Going to Extremes: EPA Fines Small Rancher 37.5K a Day for Buildinga Stock Pond on His 8 Acre Property

  1. J. Soden says:

    EPA used the same fining tactics with the Colorado mine’s owner that resulted in the EPA bunglers polluting the Animus River – and others downstream – with toxic mine waste.
    Johnson’s pond complied with all of his state’s specs and was approved by WY – and then here comes the heavy hand of the Foolish Feds. Expect EPA to get another slapdown once it gets to court. Kudos to Johnson for his courage to fight back!

  2. Tina says:

    Wow, I didn’t know the mine owner had been threatened with fines. It surprises me that the EPA was cleaning it up instead of having the owner do it.

  3. Pie Guevara says:

    This show just how nuts an entrenched bureaucracy can be. We have had plenty of nuts entrenched bureaucracies under the dystopian administration of Barack Obama. This government does not serve the electorate, it is abusive of the constitution, abusive of US citizens, and increasingly totalitarian.

    We desperately need some people in Washington to oppose and turn back the pernicious progressive power grab machine.

  4. Steve says:

    Try building a barn on your own property right here in Butte County, where we even supposedly have a republican majority. Chances are you won’t like the government hoops you have to jump through. At every level of government, the hunger for control over how people live their lives or utilize their resources overcomes the respect individual liberty. Liberals can utilize the butterfly theory to justify every possible taking of your individual freedoms and rights.
    It only stops when we are mad enough to throw out everyone who is complicit and start over again.

  5. Peggy says:

    California is NOT one of the states on the list.

    Federal judge blocks Obama’s water rule:

    “A federal judge in North Dakota acted late on Thursday to block the Obama administration’s controversial water pollution rule, hours before it was due to take effect.

    Judge Ralph Erickson of the District Court for the District of North Dakota found that the 13 states suing to block the rule met the conditions necessary for a preliminary injunction, including that they would likely be harmed if courts didn’t act and that they are likely to succeed when their underlying lawsuit against the rule is decided.

    The decision is a major roadblock for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers, who were planning on Friday to begin enforcing the Waters of the United States rule, expanding federal jurisdiction over small waterways, like streams and wetlands.
    But the Obama administration says it will largely enforce the regulation as planned, arguing that the Thursday decision only applies to the 13 states that requested the injunction.”

    http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/252140-judge-blocks-obamas-water-rule

  6. Peggy says:

    Off topic, but related with the gov’t and executive overreach of power.

    Mt. McKinley vs. Denali: A Teachable Moment on Tyranny:

    http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/09/01/mt-mckinley-vs-denali-a-teachable-moment-on-tyranny/

    • bob says:

      Well look on the bright side, Miss Peggy. At least he didn’t name it Mt. Sharpton.

      I happened to have a pair of hiking shows called Denali. I was flattered that Obammie named a mountain after my shoes! 🙂

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