Author Topic: Judge refuses to let feds off hook for Colorado environmental disaster  (Read 252 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Elderberry

  • TBR Contributor
  • *****
  • Posts: 24,280
WND 9/3/2022

Took land without permission for cleanup scheme

A federal judge has refused to let the Environmental Protection Agency off the hook for an environmental disaster it created in Colorado when it breached an old mine, unleashing millions of gallons of contaminated water into a pristine river drainage.

The fight is in court because the federal agency simply took control of some nearby private property where it eventually assembled a cleanup effort, and never has paid for its use.

The ruling comes from Judge Armando Bonilla of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, who refused the government's motion to dismiss the case.

According to a report from the New Civil Liberties Alliance, the case is on behalf of property owner Todd Hennis.

"Hennis filed a lawsuit against the United States for the physical taking of his property without just compensation in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution," the organization reported. "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) caused an environmental catastrophe that preceded and culminated in the invasion, occupation, taking, and confiscation of Mr. Hennis’s downstream property, an action for which he has been seeking redress ever since. This ruling means the U.S. Court of Federal Claims is allowing Mr. Hennis's lawsuit to go forward to discovery, and ultimately to trial."

It was back on August 5, 2015, when the EPA "destroyed" the portal to the high-elevation Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado.

More: https://www.wnd.com/2022/09/judge-refuses-let-feds-off-hook-colorado-environmental-disaster/