A Colorado couple fined by the EPA for getting rid of invasive weeds on their own property is challenging the decision - because the agency proposed the fine which was then affirmed by one of its own employees.
The lawsuit was filed by Thomas and Amy Villegas after the EPA wanted to fine them $300,000 for removing debris and weeds from their own land.
"When they began the process of removing the downed trees and invasive Phragmite weeds, a neighbor reported them to the EPA. The EPA claimed that these activities discharged pollutants - namely dirt and other fill material - into protected waters, filed an administrative enforcement action against the Villegases, and hauled them in front of an agency administrative law judge to seek a $300,000 fine," the legal organization explained.
"But the Villegases were denied that right when the EPA chose to prosecute them in an in-house tribunal before an unaccountable administrative law judge who works for the agency."
Defendants are Michael Regan, chief of the EPA, Meg McCollister, of the EPA's Region 7 and others.
It was Susan Biro, an EPA employee who was working as an administrative law judge even though she never was appointed as an ALJ under the Appointments Clause, who ruled against the couple.
Then the EPA claimed they placed "Dirt, spoil, rock, culverts, trees, and sand into waters of the United States."
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