It’s not every day that a welder from Uinta County gets to share the podium with the president of the United States. But that’s what happened last Tuesday, October 8, 2019. Andy Johnson did not seek the spotlight. The spotlight fell on him—with all the fury of a bureaucracy scorned.
The achievement that put him on the dais with President Trump was that he stood for his rights as an American citizen against the threat of financial ruin. By quietly standing for property rights, Johnson not only won the case but also helped to expose injustices that threaten the lives and livelihoods of every family in America.
Johnson’s story was recounted by Nick Reynolds in the Tribune Eagle last weekend. (Trump highlights Wyoming man’s battle with the EPA, WTE October 12, 2019). It can also be read in his own words at https://pacificlegal.org/our-fight-with-epa/.
One of the more striking details of his story was how government inspectors from the Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency did not themselves know if he had broken any rules. If those whose business it is to know the law don’t know whether the law has been violated, how is it possible for anyone to know the law?
Even more outrageous was Johnson’s encounter with an inspector from the EPA. Johnson recounted: “He said he did not know if we were in violation or not, but we would have to spend a lot of money and prove that we were not!” The demand that someone prove his own innocence is outrageous and fundamentally unconstitutional.
There is no federal law that requires what the EPA demanded. It was only unpublished internal “guidance” that caused their agents and enforcers to assess daily fines that eventually rose to $16 million. Only when the Pacific Legal Foundation helped the Johnsons file suit against the EPA did the tables turn. Within months, the agency dropped all fines and ceased demanding the demolition of the Johnsons’ pond. It never did, however, admit any fault in the matter.
In a county of only 20,500 people, the Johnsons should be a household name. One of our own families stood up to an obvious injustice from an overwhelming leviathan and won. That’s more exciting than the Cowboys going to a bowl game!
Sadly, however, our world is so distorted that many are more familiar with the latest news cycle in Washington, D.C. than they are with their neighbors down the street. It’s a sad commentary that our next-door neighbors need to travel 2,000 miles away before we can see them and their struggles.
Sadder still is the mentality that would submerge the identity of our neighbors into the swamp of identity politics. We must not let the toxic filter of red/blue politics poison community cohesion.
The executive order was especially urged by Russell Vought, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget. He called it “a major step forward in the effort to drain the swamp, and to get our arms wrapped around the administrative state.” He said, “We want to make sure that the American people… are no longer bullied by their federal government.”
When the Johnsons participated in the signing of President Trump’s “Executive Order on Promoting the Rule of Law through Transparency and Fairness in Civil Administrative Enforcement and Adjudication,” they represented all Americans—not only half of us. The ordeal that Andy, Morgan and their kids endured will have lasting effects on our own property rights and the rights of our children and grandchildren.
They endured years of bullying under the arbitrary and awesome power of the EPA. They deserve our gratitude for helping to spotlight hidden injustices. We should be thankful, too, for elected and appointed officials who noticed the problems and are working to do something to protect our neighbors and friends.
Andy Johnson took his opportunity at the podium to say, “I would just like to thank the president today for signing this executive order which will hold the EPA and other government agencies more responsible for their actions. Thank you.”
Andy, thank you for speaking so eloquently on our behalf. If we didn’t hear you until you were 2,000 miles away, accept our gratitude now. You have not only spotlighted a problem in Washington. You have also revealed a problem back home.
We would all do well to quit our fixation with Washington and turn our eyes to the people down the block. An executive order can begin to fix Washington’s problems. But a friendly smile and a handshake across the fence has a far more immediate and lasting impact where it counts.
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