Wyoming rancher facing $20M in EPA fines claims victory, keeps cash, stock pond

[Geee]

Washington Times:

A Wyoming rancher facing $20 million in fines for building a stock pond on his property has settled his lawsuit with the Environmental Protection Agency in a deal that allows him to keep his watering hole and his money.

 

In a case that drew national attention, the EPA ordered Andy Johnson in January 2014 to tear out the pond or pay $37,500 per day in fines for what the agency described as a violation of the Clean Water Act, even though stock ponds are exempt from the federal law and he had obtained the necessary state and local permits.

 

In a settlement agreement announced Monday, Mr. Johnson agreed to plant willow trees and temporarily limit livestock access on a portion of the pond in what his attorneys described as “a win for the Johnson family and a win for the environment.”

 

Mr. Johnson had accumulated more than $20 million in fines while fighting the agency’s order, but under the settlement, “the Johnsons will pay no fine,” said Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Jonathan Wood.