Farmer plows his field and now faces $2.8M fine

gman4tide

All-SEC
Nov 21, 2005
1,906
442
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Flint Creek
Wetlands regs/violations have been around since '85...and the corp don't play around with them. The violations aren't even tied to subsidies like say, a highly erodible land violation. You destroy a wetland without jumping thru the proper hoops...you're gonna pay.
 

TIDE-HSV

Senior Administrator
Staff member
Oct 13, 1999
84,552
39,665
437
Huntsville, AL,USA
I have a friend who's a member of a wealthy family here and had successfully developed several large outlet mall centers and standard malls across the country. He made the mistake of expanding into Louisiana and ran into their Department of Environment Quality. If any state has more corrupt politics than Alabama, it's there. After he thought he was properly permitted and sunk millions in site prep and signed up his anchors, the department "discovered" he'd destroyed a wetland. (Isn't all of LA a wetland?) He had to purchase 100s of acres of pinelands and donate them to the state. He also had to make private "peace" with certain officials. Construction was set back a year, two years, finally almost four, during all of which time, interest was accruing and he was losing tenants. In the end, he bankrupted. ADEM is no better. I've had clients dangle for years on matters which should have taken weeks to resolve. I settled one matter after years by inserting a deed clause to the effect no one would drink ground water from the site. The site was a shopping center...
 

gman4tide

All-SEC
Nov 21, 2005
1,906
442
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Flint Creek
If they are that important why didn't the government buy them?
Well, the gubmint don't actually buy, but they do try to lease (long term) wetlands. However, taxpayers scream about that too. I don't see us (my agency, other gov ag agencies) expanding those programs though since the new sec of ag has announced a 30+% cut to usda...and we know those cuts won't start at the top.
 

Bamaro

TideFans Legend
Oct 19, 2001
26,561
10,622
287
Jacksonville, Md USA
Well, the gubmint don't actually buy, but they do try to lease (long term) wetlands. However, taxpayers scream about that too. I don't see us (my agency, other gov ag agencies) expanding those programs though since the new sec of ag has announced a 30+% cut to usda...and we know those cuts won't start at the top.
The Nature Conservancy also buys environmentally critical areas to protect them from harmful development/destruction.
https://www.nature.org/
 

AlexanderFan

Hall of Fame
Jul 23, 2004
11,076
7,524
187
Birmingham
Why buy them when you can just fine the land owners for working on them? Earn more money that way.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

TrampLineman

Hall of Fame
Jul 21, 2010
7,287
6
57
Alabama
If they are that important why didn't the government buy them?
Because they can't make any money off of it. This way the farmer is on the hook for the repairs that he didn't cause to begin with. Do the Corps not understand the dirt from his field is put into the Creeks when it floods? That's no matter if it's plowed and/or ripped or just plain out pasture land. This is why we had to stop farming in the 80's, was because of crap with the government like this. They were very ready to foreclose on my Uncle's tractors, not to mention a vet just trying to make a living. You can't just buy land and farm anymore. It goes way beyond that.
 

IMALOYAL1

All-American
Oct 28, 2000
3,927
246
187
Birmingham AL
...... because much of its wetlands in California's Central Valley were converted to cropland or became urban.


Anybody ever read the fictional book, The Water Knife?
 

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