4/2/2025
WT Staff
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April 2, 2025 303 pm EDT
SDWA CrimeBox
Historic Conviction Fiscal Year 2010; Case ID# CR_2003(Idaho)
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals supports one of the first Safe Drinking Water Act convictions in US history
Idaho's first and only criminal conviction under the Safe Drinking Water Act, one of the first successful prosecutions under the SDWA in the United States. The original case was appealed to the Ninth Circuit, the first appellate decision in the USA "to address the constitutionality of the statute under the Commerce Clause". The Court held that "drinking water is an article in commerce that Congress can regulate to prevent contamination". The Court further noted that “underground fluid injection can have disastrous consequences for drinking water and, in turn, for human health.”
The defendant in this case was a farm owner-operator, responsible for the day-to-day management of a cattle ranch and feedlot near Burley, Idaho. A federal jury sentenced this defendant to a term of home detention, a federal fine and three years probation for Safe Drinking Water Act crimes, including making false statements to the authorities.
As Spring brings both rain and snow melt in northern ranch country, piles of manure waste are thawing, making for an unsightly mess and smell. The jury heard evidence that the defendant had ordered farm workers to pump excess sludge and wastewater from the surface into irrigation wells on the property. At least four deep wells received cattle manure on several occasions.
In April 2009, the defendant was convicted by a federal jury following a three-day trial. An expert witness testified that liquid manure was injected into the wells without the required permit from the Idaho Department of Water Resources. Evidence presented at trial included false statements given to an inspector visiting the feedlot. The false statements, along with four counts of Safe Drinking Water Act violation were considered in sentencing.
The federal jury came up short of the heavy burden to convict the defendant for injecting contaminant into groundwater, as alleged by the Attorney General. The judge explained that by injecting the waste into the agricultural well casings without a permit, the defendant is certainly not innocent of contaminating the groundwater, there just was not enough evidence to support a prison sentence.
This case was investigated by the Environmental Protection Agency-Criminal Investigation Division, Idaho State Department of Agriculture, Idaho Department of Water Resources, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, and the Idaho Attorney General's Office.
Home Detention: 4 months; Federal Fine: $5000; Probation: 36 months
See last week's CrimeBox, "Don't say you did when you didn't", here.
SDWA CrimeBox briefs are compiled from EPA Criminal Enforcement records.
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