Government Loses Case Against Farmer Accused of Clean Water Act Violations

摘要

A federal court judge has denied the federal government's efforts to nullify a jury verdict in favor of a Wyoming farmer who discharged material into a creek on his property without a permit, an action that the government claimed was a violation of the Clean Water Act and that the farmer successfully argued was exempt from permitting requirements (United States v. Hamilton, D. Wyo., No. 2:10-cv-00231-ABJ, opinion and order 7/31/14). Judge Alan B. Johnson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming July 31 rejected the government's May 9 motion for judgment as a matter of law. The motion argued that jurors didn't have sufficient evidence to find that defendant David Hamilton didn't need a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers when he rerouted Slick Creek so that it flowed across his Worland, Wyo., farm.