Rancher Sticks It To The Feds; Wins BIG Against Obama And The EPA

Last August, a Utah rancher named Andy Johnson was targeted by the EPA for daring to do what he wanted with his own property.

Johnson was slapped with over $16M in fines for building a stock pond on his land. The purpose of the pond was to clean the stream water that ran through it, but apparently that wasn’t good enough for the Environmental Protection Agency, which determined that he violated the Clean Water Act. The expansion of this Act was suspended by the courts, but that didn’t deter the government from punishing a private citizen for his use of his land.

Johnson had received the necessary permits and the stock pond itself was exempt from federal law, but he was still fined $37,500 per day. He had been accumulating these fines since January of 2014, when the EPA first demanded he tear out the pond.

The case has finally come to a close and the end result is actually kind of shocking.


The EPA decided to settle with Johnson, allowing him to keep the pond and lifted the heavy fines they had placed upon him.

Johnson’s attorney had this to say about the outcome:

“This settlement is a win for the Johnson family, and a win for the environment,” said Wood. “Under it, the Johnsons will pay no fine. They will not lose their property.

They will not have to agree to federal jurisdiction or a federal permit, which would have surely entailed onerous conditions.

In effect, the government will treat the pond as an exempt stock pond, in exchange for Andy further improving on the environmental benefits he has already created.”


While this is the best outcome imaginable for citizens, it is also a nightmare that he had to endure for years before the government backed off.

http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/...o-the-feds-wins-big-against-obama-and-the-epa