XPost: alt.california, sac.politics, alt.politics.republicans
XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh
(NEWSER) – California farmer John Duarte could be facing a $2.8
million fine—and may be ordered to pay millions more in wetlands
mitigation—for an offense he describes thusly: "Planting wheat
in a wheat field," something he says had been done many times
previously. Duarte has been fighting legal battles since 2012,
when he hired someone to plow 450 acres of land he had purchased
near Red Bluff in central California, USA Today reports. Because
the area included wetlands, the US Army Corps of Engineers
ordered work to stop and sued Duarte for failing to obtain a
permit and for allegedly carrying out "deep ripping" that went
as far as 3 feet down, disturbing waters considered to be
"waters of the United States" under federal regulations.
A Pacific Legal Foundation lawyer says this is the first case he
knows of where a farmer had to get a permit from the Army Corps
of Engineers to grow crops. "We're not going to produce much
food under those kinds of regulations," he says. Federal
prosecutors say Duarte violated the Clean Water Act because his
activities deposited dirt into wetland streams. The case is
scheduled to go to trial in August, though Duarte says the Trump
administration has made it clear it considers the rule involved
to be "dead," the Modesto Bee reports. He says unless the case
is dropped, he will take it to the highest court possible to
make sure other farmers aren't "shaken down by government
agencies."
http://www.newser.com/story/243288/farmer-faces-28m-fine-for- plowing-field.html
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