If you have property on a body of water [river, stream, lake, ocean] or a pond, puddle, ditch, dry wash that gets rain once a year but does not even flow into a stream or river, golf course with a water hazard………………………….
Here is how the EPA acts today with the regs that exist absent the over reach above:
In 2011, Andy and Katie Johnson built a stock pond on a small creek that runs through their eight-acre farm near Fort Bridger, Wyoming. A stock pond is a pond used for watering animals. The Johnsons applied for, and received, a permit for their stock pond from The Wyoming State Engineer's Office, and they followed the state rules for building the pond.
As Andy Johnson put it, “Before we didn't have ducks and geese. ... Now you can see bald eagles here, we have moose come down. We have blue herons that come in every evening. Before we did this ... it was basically just a little irrigation canal.”
On Jan. 30, the EPA announced that they - not the state of Wyoming - had jurisdiction over the Johnson’s stock pond. The EPA sent the Johnsons a notice informing them they had violated the Clean Water Act, which could carry thousands of dollars in fines. The Johnsons were given 10 days to reply in writing that they would remove the pond and return the creek to its pre-pond state. The EPA gave them 30 days to hire an approved consultant to create a removal plan, subject to EPA approval, for the work.
The Johnsons have vowed to fight, and have told the EPA they won’t comply. The EPA has threatened to fine the Johnsons $75,000 per day in civil penalties. A defiant Andy Johnson told Fox News, “I have not paid them a dime nor will I. I will go bankrupt if I have to.”
What makes this story particularly egregious is the EPA really does not have any legal jurisdiction in this case. When Congress wrote the Clean Water Act in 1972, it clearly intended for the law to apply only to navigable waters, and the Johnson’s creek is certainly not navigable. But the EPA and the Corps keep attempting to expand their jurisdiction, something Congress has explicitly chosen not to allow and which two U.S. Supreme Court decisions have rejected.
According to Daniel McGroarty, President of American Resources Policy Network, “The new catchphrase is ‘connectivity:’ Forget whether waters are navigable; what matters now for EPA’s would-be rulemakers is that disparate bodies of water are connected ecologically.”
The EPA is claiming that the Johnson’s creek runs into the Black Forks River, which then runs into the Green River. Since the Green River is navigable, the EPA is claiming jurisdiction because the Johnson’s creek is connected to navigable water. But EPA legal jurisdiction based on connection to navigable water is simply not in the Clean Water Act. The EPA is in essence saying, “Badges? We don't need no stinkin’ badges!”
But even if the EPA had jurisdiction based on connection to navigable water, the Johnsons say their creek downstream flows into an irrigation canal and has no connection to either river.
But there is more, and this is outrageous. The Clean Water Act contains an exemption specifically for stock ponds. It is called a section 404 (f)(1)(C) exemption. The EPA has made a unilateral ruling in this case that the Section 404 exemption does not apply to the Johnsons, but they have never explained why.
Another fine example of goverment run a muck.
ReplyDeleteTo much power in the hands of morons with little common sense.
They more than likely had a paper pusher make this decison based on a map.
Hes probally never even seen the pond.
The Road Runner....
i say that the e.p.a does not have enough power,give them more ........lets not forget that it was saint richard of nixon one of the greatest of all republicans (except for st.ronald ) to have walk the earth,who gave birth and nurtured the e.p.a. ......it was all his idea start to finish,as well as o.s.h.a. and food stamps..........hard to believe that after elk river spill that any mountaineer would think that the e.p.a. has to much power .....the remedy for such cut and paste fake moral outrage as portrayed above is:#1 turn fox news off : #2 go and re-register as a democrat ,and worry about things that really confront our country in the 21 st century .........you know like jobs,climate change,education,and corporate greed ........lately when i hear such things ,i say to myself,i wonder what the germans or the french are doing,they seem to be doing the right things,while we take our marching orders from rush limbough,and the like ....... you republicans have had more than thirty years to muck everything up it really is time to step aside,and oh yeah take a chill pill .........
ReplyDeleteamerica is a great country we always do the right thing ,after we have tried everything else ........
ReplyDeleteu mean like "we" got it right with obamacare???
Deleteexactly.now you are all catching on ..........turn fox news off and you would realize ,that we all need health insurance .......i myself wanted single payer medicare for everyone ,like the rest of the western economies have........in spite of all the boogie man stories people are signing up .......the opposition to a.c.a. is the same fake outrage and predictions of doom as used when social security ,and then medicare,came on line ........just like those social plans a.c.a. is going to keep on going,and run right over anyone that doesn `t like it ........... the g.o.p. has spent 434 million dollars in advertisements spinning lies to people about the a.c.a. you know like death panels and supporting 50 attempts to repeal this law ....... $434,000,000 u.s.how much pain and suffering could be alleviated ,for that kind of money ,spending it on things that help our country instead of lies ........
DeleteYea wait till the new epa rules about coalkick in some say it will cpsy 224000 jobs and raise electric bill the,eoa is used by obama just like the irs and justice dept.
DeleteI hope everyone who voted for him finally understand the damage he has,caused here and overseas
everything is wait until this or that kicks in and then doom will cover us over .........i wonder if there was this kind of worry when 50,000 factories left the u.s.a. leaving 5 million workers holding the bag, with the last administration ...... .coal has had it ,it`s days are numbered ........as late as the 1980`s there where 125,000 coal mining jobs in w.v. now it is down to 15,000,and half of those miners commute from eastern kentucky every day ........ most coal jobs are non-union ,wages are low .....those jobs where lost not due to the e.p.a.but because the mines became more automated ,and the coal is running out ....... coal mining ,,,,really not very great jobs .........do you think mon power or a.p.a. really care about making money,and making it the fastest ,cheapest way it can ....... i go for breathing any day ,over a handful of coal and power company jobs and all the other dirty things that go with .......another fox news boogey man story ,predicting yet one more fake end of the world dilemma ........the g.o.p.has done a pretty good job of nullifying this president `s every move so really what damage has he been able to do ?????? the fact is that he won by large margins,the last time by 10,000,000 votes,he is not a mistake ,and other than he being black ,i really do not see any difference from any other past president ........the party of no,hell no ,has pretty much ground the country to a stop .......shameful comes to mind .......when w.v. goes red well than good luck every one ........we are the state with the most federal social welfare aide and money ,we can not have that sad distinction ,if we have lots of good paying meaningful jobs .......we got left behind .......so turn fox news off ,it will all work out in the end,the world will not end ........it is time to move on to the next episode of fake g.o.p. moral outrage .......oh what fun it is to bash president blackenstine at every step of the way ........
Deleteevery body of water in the state of west virginia,every creek, river,pond,and lake has mercury from the amos coal fired electric generating in st.albans .......the extra high stacks push the smoke up high so when it settles down to earth it covers a wide circle .......amos is the largest coal fired electric plant in the world ...... i don`t know about you but i enjoy breathing air and drinking water .......now if you do not breath or drink water ,i bet your kids and grand children use air and water .......so i say more e.p.a.,stronger with more regulations ,not less .........it does not matter how much cool -aide you drink ,rich people and big companies will never give one shit for the poor and the middle class in the u.s.a. ......so i can not understand poor people taking up the cause of rich republicans .........now w.v. has mostly poor people so how will it help to crusade for the g.o.p.?????????????????????
ReplyDeleteWhen you electric bill keeps going up and unemployment goes up and our dependency on middle east oil goes up you might feel differnt.
ReplyDeleteOther than the greenbrier and,down stream from mecks poop palace i am not fearfull of drinking water,from streams in pocky.
Speaking of cool aid what happend to all those,billions Obama gave to solar companies that folded.
ReplyDeleteSo you know I have no issue with reducing our coal use but before you do that you need to come up with sonething to replace it , which the,real coolaid drinkers have not done yet .
Importing more middle east oil is not the,answer nor is a ax to the pipe line from canada.
As,long as population grows,so,will our energy needs.
Our goverment aka obama,and the koolaid drinkers have not adressed these issues and their actions have done nothing to reduce our dependency on middle east oil.
You may have noticed we are the biggest user of oil in the world they love it.
Recently aginst the,law obama traded one american who very well may be anti american fir 5 of the top taliban we had in cuba one was suspected of killing over 250 americans another was one of osamas top men.
The father of the man we traded said he,hopes all in cuba will be released and praise alla then obama hugged him.
Be preparred for americans to be kidnapped and traded that,is,what will happen this,was,aginst the law.
Obama i think means well but his,actions are negtive to our nation.
Common sense he has,none if.
Im all fir clean energy but dont pee un my soup and tell me its good.in all for ending war but dont trade with terriost and make it,so iran gets nukes and tell me its a,good thing .
Wise,up its not good the demis and gop both are fools,and care more about polirics then whats good for the natiin obama just happens to screw us more them the gop. Hes backed by billionaires .same song justva differnt set of words
those solar companies that you speak of started under our last president ,and went under when president blackenstine took office .........i also hope that the prisoners in cuba are released .......we do not hold people with out trial it really is not the american way .....one day in the future when it is our soldiers who are captives ,how will we feel .......
Deletei really enjoyed your attempt at jive .just another stupid negro ,you know .........middle east oil is so 90`s,and the cut at the pipe line and lets not forget allah and the just released soldier .....those 5 men who got set free have been there for almost 15 years,they are not top taliban,been out of it to long .........our drones and continuous war and secret prison camps in cuba,holding people without trial ,does not equal nation building ........this was not the american way,and it is no way to spread democracy to other nations ......like i said what is the next fake moral outrage issue coming down the fox news pipe line ........so that people can bite like fish at .........i really do not care about narrow minded views that i read on here ,sometimes even racist views,they are almost laughable ........ what i do care about is that school kids are the major consumers of this blog ,so when they read things that are not rebutted ,do they think it must be true .........i hope kids are smarter than this ........we have 5,000 nukes ,israel as 200 ,pakistan has 500 and exported nuclear no how to countries like iran ........pakistan was able to do this because of the 200 billion we give them in foreign aide ,which they spent on getting bombs ........so who are we to tell anyone about having atomic weapons ........
ReplyDeleteIf you trust iran with nukes your foolish.
ReplyDeleteMove to isreal.after iran gets them.
i trust a nuclear iran as much as i trust a nuclear isreal ........i would rather prefer that isreal return to their 1967borders and get a two state peace treaty .......that would bring peace .........that is what all the arab states want ........we will not tell iran what to do about nuclear weapons,because we have no right to tell or lecture anyone about the bomb ........our days of telling countries what to do,and playing world cop are over .........our last two wars have proven that ,thanks to bush and cheny ........
DeleteWe import 62 percent of the oil we use if restrictions on drilling and,fracking were reduced we could sell not import.
ReplyDeleteYou want coal fired electric stopped then tell me,what you will replace it with yea its so 90s .
Stop blaming the gop and grow up its both sides the demos just are dumber.
True some in the gop have money backing them so the,same,can be,said of the group who choose a ass as a mascot.
presently we lead the world in production and export of oil and refined oil products ........
DeleteDont forget the mercury from cement plants oil fired power plants gold mining thermonters , wood and burning wood,cars we have to do away with all.of that we can build our homes from mud we can do away with car batteries by going back to push starting them heat our homes with dung and do away with all electric devices that have gold in them , also explosives and gun bullet primersc we can use clubs fashioned from stone and the bones of the,dead it will be a,obama paridise long live obama .
ReplyDeletecoal fired plants lead in mercury pollution ......worse of all we do not get our electric from amos it is sold to the grid .......all of the above dire predictions about clubs made from bones still is not an argument for tighter limits on c.o.2 ........if not now when ..........
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