A Wyoming man follows all his state’s rules, getting proper permits, to build a stock pond on his own property. EPA declares the pond “a dam” and is poised to fine him $75,000 a day unless he gets rid of it.
The government says he violated the Clean Water Act by building a dam on a creek without a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers. Further, the EPA claims that material from his pond is being discharged into other waterways. Johnson says he built a stock pond — a man-made pond meant to attract wildlife — which is exempt from Clean Water Act regulations.
The property owner says he followed the state rules for a stock pond when he built it in 2012 and has an April 4-dated letter from the Wyoming State Engineer’s Office to prove it.
“Said permit is in good standing and is entitled to be exercised exactly as permitted,” the state agency letter to Johnson said.
But the EPA isn’t backing down and argues they have final say over the issue. They also say Johnson needs to restore the land or face the fines.
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In San Diego, Molon Labe.
OCEANSIDE, Calif. – The owner of an Oceanside store that sells various gun parts to build a rifle from scratch refused to turn over his customer list to federal agents.
Dimitrios Karras, owner of Ares Armor, said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents were investigating their business, not for what they sell, but for the people who purchase their products.
Karras said the ATF threatened to shutter their business if they didn’t hand over the names of 5,000 customers who have purchased an 80 percent lower receiver (the base) for building an AR-15.
It is legal to build a rifle from scratch without serial numbers only if the base is manufactured to ATF specifications. The base is not considered a firearm if it’s sold separately.
A manufacturer made an 80 percent receiver in plastic with a different material and colors which show exactly where the customer can drill making it easier and cheaper to build. The ATF said it is illegal.
The ATF sent stores, including Ares Armor, letters demanding they turn over the products and names of customers who purchased them.
“They said either give us these 5000 names or we are coming in and taking pretty much anything – which is a huge privacy concern and something we are not willing to do,” said Karras.
Karras’s attorney informed the ATF to pick up the receivers Wednesday morning at their Oceanside location, but the inventory was not the issue. The store owner said he will not comply with turning over their private client list.
“They were going to search all of our facilities and confiscate our computer and pretty much shut our business down,” said Karras. “The government invades our privacy on a daily basis and everyone thinks its ok. This is one of those situations where hopefully the governmental institutions will come in say this is protected and no you’re not taking it from them.”
In anticipation of a raid, they filed a temporary restraining order against the ATF, stopping them from confiscating their property, Karras said. The ATF has a certain amount of time to respond. If the two parties do not reach a compromise, they will be in court for a preliminary hearing March 20.
There is no fascism to see here. Move along, move along.
Greetings:
Our many levels of government sure seem to have taken a liking to that “the process is the punishment” idea.
The smart thing to do if buying an 80% lower is to not leave a trail at all. Use cash or money orders to pay for the purchase, and make sure the company keeps no records either.
Arriving in person and paying cash is probably the best way to go, if possible.
So what ever happened with the EPA giving over 1 million acres of Wyoming land to Native American tribes last month?
The EPA is just as bad, if not worse, than the IRS but it manages to avoid the same level of scrutiny.
That Wyoming dude went wrong when he misnamed his waterbody a stock pond. He’d never have met any difficulty at all had he merely labeled the thing a wudu bathing area in accord with sterling Islamic practice.
By holding back that water he’s preventing it from completing its natural course, which is to trickle into a mudhole about 50 yards downstream and ultimately evaporate.
The Potemkin Land of the Free.
Hey, American Avocets thrive in those evaporative mudholes, and them’s cute birdies.
Oopsie!
Forgot I had a photo of Avocets in an intermittent mudhole to demonstrate my excellent point.
Flickr folios are out of reach to those of us who won’t sign up.
TTAG is reporting that this business was raided by BATF despite the restraining order:
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2014/03/daniel-zimmerman/breaking-ares-armor-raided-atf/
Trending on the Twitter, #WhiteManMarchProtestSigns. As you can imagine, Leftists are having a… blast. )
I had been of the mind that polymer lowers are silly and frivolous. Now I want a dozen of them. Stupid fascists.
the polymer lowers are easier to mill
and you don’t need to anodize them
One word: ‘blackmarket’…and fuck the government if they can’t take a joke.
The gentleman in Wyoming is screwed. The EPA will fine him until he drains the pond, as soon as he drains the pond he will be fined for destroying a wetland. It’s a lose lose proposition.
cranky. The smart thing is to just buy the raw forgings(about 20 bucks each) and a drill press and some files. there is enough information on the internet to make a decent receiver even by hand. Or so I am told.
Not that I would ever do it
California [R]ino.
“Give me?”
<smacks self on forehead>
Why didn’t I think of that? Thank you, I will.
Obama’s Lawless ATF Breaks Into Private Business & Seizes All Customer Records (Video)
Where have you gone Harold Ramis, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you, woo, woo, woo…”
What that you say? Harold Ramis voted for Obama anyway?
“I had been of the mind that polymer lowers are silly and frivolous. Now I want a dozen of them. Stupid fascists”
I hear complaints about polymer and carbon-fiber composite lowers (like the bushmaster carbons) cracking over time. That might be a result of using an M16 -length barrel with an M4 gas tube, one of those things that AR-people say, a poorly attached upper, or just a genuine material problem with polymer and CF-composite .
Does the EPA have regulations on planting fast-growing pine trees on one’s own remote Wyoming property and keeping a mated pair of pet beavers?
“….pet beavers” Probably laws against mating them but be careful with the petting part. Of course if there are laws on the books chances are that the current admin. is likely choosing not to enforce them. YBMV
How did you teach pet beavers to play chess?
So are they mated flush or counter sunk or what?
More SCIENCE!!! Designed to stroke the boss while actually providing him a “HANDY” manual to speed the collapse he so desires.