The Biden administration has filed a civil action against an Idaho ranch, contending it built several crossings over the Bruneau River, violating the Clean Water Act (CWA).
The suit filed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho against Ace Black Ranches LLP contends from 2017-21, the ranch placed sand, gravel and other debris adjacent to the river, altering it and creating pollution.
It also asserts the ranch used heavy machinery to clear and level acres of wetlands on and around the ranch, leading to the installation of roads and center-pivot irrigation systems, which resulted in unauthorized discharges of dredged material and other pollutants into the river and the adjacent wetlands.
“The complaint in this case alleges that Ace Black Ranches treated the Bruneau River and state-owned wetlands along the river as private property that could be damaged or destroyed for sand and gravel mining without any effort to comply with the requirements of the Clean Water Act that protects our Nation’s waters from such abuses,” said EPA Assistant Administrator David M. Uhlmann in a statement.
The complaint alleges the discharges affected areas on the ranch and neighboring parcels of privately owned and state-owned land, including a section of the C.J. Strike Wildlife Management Area.
Background
Ace Black Ranches is an 800-acre cattle ranch in Burneau Valley, ID, bisected by the Burneau River. Nearly 40 miles upstream of the Bruneau Valley, a section of the Bruneau River is designated as a wild river under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, while a part of the C.J. Strike Wildlife Management Area adjoins the ranch to the south.
The management area offers hunting, fishing, and wildlife viewing opportunities. However, certain sections, including the area bordering the ranch, are closed to public access for six months annually to support the nesting and rearing of game and waterfowl.
In a video posted last year on the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation website, Terry Black said his family has owned the ranch since 1875. Telby Black explained the problems began in 2019 when a neighbor objected to the ranch installing center pivot irrigation and filed a complaint, first unsuccessfully with state agencies and then with the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). The Blacks explained the decision to convert from flood irrigation to pivot was to save water and prevent runoff into the Turneau River.
Telby Black continued they received a letter in February 2021 from the Corps asking questions, which he said “did not pertain to the operation at all.” He called the Corps and was told the EPA would also be sending questions and if those were answered, the Corps would be satisfied.
According to the complaint, the Black family initially consented to having EPA and the Corps visit the ranch in May 2021. However, the evening before they were scheduled to arrive, the Black family withdrew their consent and filed a a complaint and a motion for preliminary injunction in the district court seeking to prevent the agencies from entering the ranch. The court dismissed the complaint on Feb. 4, 2022.
Government officials served a warrant to search the ranch in May 2021 and inspected the ranch for three days. Telby Black explained they did not hear anything from the agencies after attempts to contact them until April 2023, when 14 people from EPA conducted another inspection for five days.
The complaint claims aerial imagery revealed sand and gravel mining operations and equipment, and during their inspections, the EPA and Corps saw evidence of “mechanical scraping, pushing, or pulling of earth in and next to the Bruneau River and adjacent wetlands, and observed large piles of sand and gravel near the Bruneau River, along its banks, and in adjacent wetlands.”
The complaint further states the ranch attempted to stabilize the bank of the Bruneau River by using heavy machinery, to discharge dredged material into the river and adjacent wetlands.
EPA seeks to enjoin unauthorized discharges of pollutants, including sediment, sand, gravel and dredged material, as well as stormwater, to the Bruneau River and adjacent wetlands. Additionally, the federal government aims to compel Ace Black Ranches, at its own expense and under EPA direction, to restore affected waters on the site, obtain necessary permits, and pay civil penalties as mandated by Section 309(d) of the CWA.
Ace Black Ranches’ response
Ace Black Ranches issued a statement they are disappointed by the actions of the EPA and the claims asserted by the agency are unfounded and the ranch is committed to stewardship.
“Ace Black Ranches’ long-standing commitment to environmental stewardship is unwavering,” the statement read. “EPA’s misguided attempts to expand its jurisdiction and reach over agricultural farm and ranch activities are bound to fail, based on the facts and the law in this case.”
The statement asserts that gravel on farms for roads and tracks for pivot irrigation are a common agricultural practice and do not require a CWA permit. The statement continues the conversion to pivot irrigation is promoted by the federal government and its claims the installation destroyed wetlands are invalid. The ranch said the alleged wetlands on the property are distinguishable from the river and the EPA has no basis for jurisdiction citing the recent decision by the Supreme Court in the Sackett v. EPA case.
In the opinion of the court for the Sackett case, Justice Samuel Alito argued the definition of “waters of the United States” proposed by the late Justice Scalia was the correct one, which implies that wetlands lacking a direct surface connection to another federally protected water body should not receive the same level of protection.
Ulmann said in the statement that EPA will hold companies accountable for conducting “illegal activities” in rivers and adjacent wetlands that threaten fisheries, neighboring properties, and downstream communities. — Charles Wallace, WLJ contributing editor
