Cattle Feedlot Beats Fish Death Fine, God’s Heavy Rain to Blame

摘要

An ‘act of God’ rainstorm in 2015 caused the release of wastewater that killed thousands of fish in Colorado, not the actions of a cattle feedlot that was the source of the discharge, a verydivided state Supreme Court said in a ruling throwing out a more than $625,000 state fine.The state was required to show that 5 Star Feedlot Inc. acted in a way that killed the fish without proper authorization, according to the Colorado Supreme Court. Here, the only voluntaryact performed by the company was the “lawful, years-long operation of wastewater containment ponds,” a plurality of the court ruled Monday.The ruling came as a win for 5 Star after it was ordered to pay the state $625,755 for unlawfully killing the fish.