California Farmer Fights Government Claim That Dirt Is a Pollutant
No one told Jack LaPant that he could be in violation of the Clean Water Act for farming his own land.
That’s mostly because the federal law includes a clear exemption for “normal” farming activities. But it’s also because the government officials LaPant consulted didn’t view overturned dirt that has been tilled and plowed as pollution.
In 2016, the Army Corps of Engineers, which administers the Clean Water Act with the Environmental Protection Agency, began legal action against LaPant for plowing he did in 2011 to plant wheat on a ranch property he owned in Northern California.
But in March 2012, LaPant had sold the property, located in Tehama County about four miles south of the city of Red Bluff.
Before plowing his field to plant wheat, LaPant conferred in person with the Farm Service Agency in California, which is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“All of these government officials I spoke with, and they have all been deposed, they never once suggested that I should go meet with the Army Corps of Engineers,” LaPant said in a phone interview with The Daily Signal.
“I asked them if it was OK to take this piece of land and grow …read more