THE HILL: Put ‘regulation by enforcement’ where it belongs: The trash
Take the example of the Sacketts. Mike and Chantell Sackett wanted to build a house on their land. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wasn’t too happy about this and insisted that the Sacketts needed a permit to develop their own property.
The EPA claimed that this was mandated by the Clean Water Act, which the Supreme Court had called “hopelessly indeterminate” in scope. But that’s not all. When the Sacketts demanded their day in court, the EPA asserted that their actions were unreviewable until they sought to enforce the fine. Meanwhile, the Sackett accrued ruinous liability — to the tune of $75,000 per day!
Pacific Legal Foundation, a nonprofit public interest organization that defends liberty for all, secured a unanimous victory for the Sacketts in the Supreme Court. The court stated that it is deeply unfair to force Americans to incur $75,000 liability each day while they waited for the EPA to drop the hammer.
Although the Sacketts were able to secure pro bono representation, agency threats leave countless other Americans with no choice but to dance to the agency’s tune.
