EPA and Corps of Engineers Out of Control

What the hell are those two government agencies doing picking on a 77-year-old disabled Navy veteran who is just trying to live out his life in relative mountain comfort and not bother anyone? Seems as time goes by, and more and more people are getting disenchanted with the over-bearing EPA and most other government entities, they manage to step in it again by pushing yet another citizen around and gaining atta boys from their superiors in Washington, D.C.

Ok ... stop right there you BHLs. I know Joe Robertson doesn’t actually OWN the land his mining claim is situated on. It’s on either BLM or US Forest Service ground. The story wasn’t all that clear on real ownership, but Robertson and his wife, Carri, have had a lease on the place since 1996. And yeah, I know, leases have rules. But....

The EPA and the C of E (Corps of Engineers) have charged Robertson with polluting a stream which is under the protection of the Waters of the US Act. A felonious Act indeed, if one were to really take the time to study it. It was designed to take over every public and private water right and put them under the control of the BLM or EPA or some as yet un-named government entity.

The waterway he is convicted of polluting is the Jefferson River 60 miles away! From Robertson’s nine ponds, the water flows into a small creek, then into the larger Cataract Creek, and then into the Boulder River and finally into the Jefferson River. He was accused of polluting the Jefferson with ... dirt, dirt he dug up while building his ponds.

The USFS would kiss him full dead on the lips if a forest fire erupted in his vicinity and they used water from his ponds to quell the blaze before it became out of control.

Friends, I gotta say this with all sincerity: If ten men stood and one woman squatted and peed in Cataract Creek where the water from the ponds first emerges on its way to the Jefferson River, would you be afraid of drinking the water in the Jefferson? Twenty feet downstream from the pond’s Cataract Creek would have more than twenty million parts water to one part of urine. (I took an educated guess at that one.)

As for the ponds, why, Good Gracias Amigos and Amigas, the BLM and EPA have been “stealing” (for lack of a stronger word) private land for years with intent of creating wetlands for the water fowl and other animals. Is this any different than what Robertson has done on his government lease? The only difference is that he didn’t jump through all the insane hoops required of him before he started his project. Things like an Environmental Impact Statement, a five-year study to see what effects his project would have on the “fragile” environment, and of course, the hundreds if not thousands of dollars in permits required by the “can’t allow boys.” (BLM, USFS, EPA, CoE and et cetera.)

Representative Ryan Zinke gets an “atta boy” from me this week for saying, “decisions about water are best made locally, not at the federal level.” He’s got it right.

My Boo-Hiss award goes to none other than a spokesman for Sen. Tester for saying this: the EPA Rule needs to “protect our most precious resource and work on the ground.” Seems to me one of the most important natural resources in this whole country is a feller named Joe Robertson.

And I must, in good faith, give a parting shot to the uneducated, illiterate, common-sense-less, bleeding heart liberal jury who, no doubt and judging by the guilty verdict they provided, slept through the whole proceedings. How could it be possible for a jury in these friendly environs of Montana to find for the government on this non-issue? I mean, polluting a stream with dirt? Really? Have they seen the Milk River? Maybe they will sue God next when He rains a torrent that floods Cataract Creek and causes dirt to flow down stream into the Boulder River and then into the Jefferson River.

In closing, Sen. Daines said it best when he said, “The Rule [Waters of the United States Act] is an attack on private property.” Atta boy senator! Give ‘em hell, Harry! Or Steve as the case may be.

That’s it for now folks. Thanks for listening.