THE DAILY CALLER: 78-Year-Old Man Imprisoned For Digging Ponds Without A Permit
A 78-year-old man imprisoned for digging two ponds in Montana, one on federal land and the other on private property, without a permit has appealed his sentence, according to the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF). Oral arguments for Joseph Robertson’s appeal began Tuesday in the Ninth Circuit court. Robertson is serving an 18 month sentence in a Colorado federal prison for violating the Clean Water Act and destroying federal property. Robertson freely admits to digging the ponds, though he thought he was digging them both on private property when he began excavation. He takes issue with the federal government’s charge that his digging caused pollution in “waters of the U.S.” protected under the Clean Water Act. The nearest navigable river, the Jefferson, is 60 miles away, according to the Montana standard.
