Farmer to challenge Clean Water Act tillage ruling

A California farmer plans to challenge a recent court ruling that he violated the Clean Water Act by tilling through wetlands in his field. A federal judge has ruled John Duarte of Tehama County, Calif., should have obtained a Clean Water Act permit to run shanks through the wetlands at a depth of four to six inches, creating furrows prior to planting wheat in a 450-acre pasture. The ruling is significant for other farmers because it undermines the “plowing exemption” to Clean Water Act regulations, said Tony Francois, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, a property-rights group that represents Duarte. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers claims the tillage operation on Duarte’s property doesn’t qualify as plowing because it “relocated earthen material into ridges,” unlawfully raising the elevation of the soil in the wetlands with “fill material.” Under this interpretation, the plowing exemption to the Clean Water Act would essentially be rendered meaningless