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Fight Against EPA Orders Heads to Supreme Court
WALL STREET JOURNAL ^ | 1/9/12 | J Bravin

Posted on 01/09/2012 5:50:51 AM PST by Recovering_Democrat

In a case watched closely by energy companies and manufacturers, the Supreme Court is set to consider Monday whether to blunt one of the government's chief tools for enforcing the Clean Water Act.

Based on "any information"—even a newspaper article or an anonymous tip—the Environmental Protection Agency can issue an administrative compliance order directing a property owner to stop discharging pollutants or restore a damaged wetland. The government says such directives, similar to stop-work orders by local zoning inspectors, allow it to respond rapidly to prevent environmental damage.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: liberty; property
Challengers say that by issuing compliance orders without first giving property owners a chance to contest them in court, the EPA skirts the federal law and the Fifth Amendment guarantee of due process....

Mr. Sackett, 45 years old, says the 0.63-acre property was a gift from his wife, who bought it from a friend for $23,000. In May 2007, three days after workers started clearing the property, officials from the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers showed up to ask if the Sacketts had a permit to fill in wetlands. The officials said they were acting on an anonymous tip. Nearly seven months later, the agency sent the couple a compliance order directing them to restore the property to its original condition.

The Sacketts, who run an excavation company, disputed that the property was a wetland, noting that it is in a subdivision.

1 posted on 01/09/2012 5:50:59 AM PST by Recovering_Democrat
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To: Recovering_Democrat

Government run amuck.

This is just another reason Hussein must be defeated in November


2 posted on 01/09/2012 5:53:46 AM PST by Recovering_Democrat
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To: Recovering_Democrat
I can't say just Obama, these lawless antagonizers have been creeping up on everybody since Nixon?
They hide behind bureaucracy and red tape like bedbugs under your mattress.

Every damn rule that comes from the EPA should be taken to court from those who can
afford it. Most small businesses can't.

3 posted on 01/09/2012 6:04:09 AM PST by MaxMax
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To: Recovering_Democrat
"The officials said they were acting on an anonymous tip"

That's what I figured. Most likely a neighbor with the lake front property on the other side of the road (already blocking the "natural" wetlands water outlet) who didn't want someone building in their back yard.

The State/County already filled in for a (second) roadway farther back from the coast to separate the inland wetlands from the shoreline.

4 posted on 01/09/2012 6:14:31 AM PST by Paladin2
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To: steelyourfaith

EPA Ping.


5 posted on 01/09/2012 6:23:03 AM PST by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: Recovering_Democrat

Yet another example of how we need to completely rewrite and tighten up these laws to require enforcement based on evidence, not rumor and speculation.


6 posted on 01/09/2012 6:45:29 AM PST by Free Vulcan (Election 2012 - America stands or falls. No more excuses. Get involved.)
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To: Recovering_Democrat
The problem is more deeply rooted in that Federal bureaucrats face no consequence of their actions; none of them are elected and subject to removal by the people. The bureaucrats who make these decisions should be hounded and made to feel uncomfortable.
7 posted on 01/09/2012 6:54:43 AM PST by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: Free Vulcan

Rewrite the laws yes, and... the VICTIMS of these out of control agencies need to start taking matters into their own hands. Take a few of these tyrants out to the wood shed and beat the living liberty into them with a bat.


8 posted on 01/09/2012 6:57:01 AM PST by unixfox (Abolish Slavery, Repeal The 16th Amendment!)
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To: MaxMax

Positions of unaccountable power attract leftist busybodies like moths to a porchlamp.

It’s not enough to get “our” moths in these positions,
we have to bust out the lamp.


9 posted on 01/09/2012 6:58:10 AM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working for)
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To: MaxMax

Another comment if you don’t mind...

small businesses can’t afford these mandates,
and that’s the very reason big businesses don’t fight these rules -

it stifles their competition.


10 posted on 01/09/2012 6:59:37 AM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working for)
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To: Army Air Corps; ApplegateRanch; Berlin_Freeper; SolitaryMan; golux; SteamShovel; Bockscar; ...
EPA non-AGW ping.

Thanx for the ping Army Air Corps !

 


Beam me to Planet Gore !

11 posted on 01/09/2012 8:28:01 AM PST by steelyourfaith (If it's "green" ... it's crap !!!)
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To: Recovering_Democrat
This is just another reason Hussein must be defeated in November

You might want to check again on exactly who was president when this particular issue started for them. Hint: 1997

12 posted on 01/09/2012 8:29:09 AM PST by zeugma (Those of us who work for a living are outnumbered by those who vote for a living.)
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To: zeugma

My point is Hussein will continue to load courts and bureaucracies with socialists like himself. I think it is imperative he lose in November.


13 posted on 01/09/2012 9:02:59 AM PST by Recovering_Democrat
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To: zeugma

My point is Hussein will continue to load courts and bureaucracies with socialists like himself. I think it is imperative he lose in November.


14 posted on 01/09/2012 9:04:02 AM PST by Recovering_Democrat
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To: MrB

That nails it.


15 posted on 01/09/2012 9:13:41 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: MaxMax
This has been happening for a long, long time. Where I used to live there was an area where people could buy plots of acreage that contained “sensitive wetlands”. When you purchased you were told that since your property had a designated wetland area, it couldn't be developed.....UNTIL....you pay the permit fee (at that time it was $200). 200 bucks somehow removed the ‘sensitivity’ from the equation.
16 posted on 01/09/2012 9:14:10 AM PST by liberalh8ter (I don't like what the world has become....)
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