KID GLOVES

The Maryland Department of the Environment in May filed an injunction against Kilby Farms, LLC in Colora, Maryland for an accumulated fish kill of some 11,000 largely brown trout spanning about five years.                 

                  The litigation asks that they "cease their discharge of pollutants" into Basin Run, which is a tributary of the many eastern creeks that eventually turn into rivers that flow into the Chesapeake Bay.  It's a Land 'O Lakes dairy, housing some 2, 250 Holstein and Jersey cows.

                  The suit seeks a penalty of $10,000 per infraction for these dates:  Sept. 1, 16, and Dec. 4 in 2025;  Feb. 20, 25, Mar. 10, and Apr. 23 in 2026, for a total of 7 infractions.  Officially labeled a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO), the state's environmental regulators have visited the site repeatedly documenting Basin Run's condition.  But it's still operating.

                  Water samples showed far more macro-invertebrates upstream of the farm than downstream.  A nearby resident sent me pictures of the stream and they are, indeed, despicable.  Apparently many things have gone wrong to create the situation, but mostly it's applying liquid manure to corn fields.  The farm has an anaerobic methane digestor, probably cost shared with taxpayer money.  The slurry tank storage may have been subsidized as well.

                  I was apprised of the situation by a family that owns acreage near the farm and moved there to homestead, enjoy playing in the creek with their kids, and lead a more rural lifestyle.  But this upstream CAFO is ruining all of that.

                  Without getting into the philosophical weeds regarding the situation, what strikes me about the whole story is the government is playing with these guys with kid gloves.  I've been crossways of government agencies numerous times and have never found them with kid gloves.  These regulators get you in their talons and don't let go until they've picked all the flesh off your bones.

                  But here we have an ongoing situation, for years, that isn't fixed.  Compare that to raw milk raids, where SWAT teams descend on little farms with guns drawn, terrifying children, confiscating food, and occupying the premises.  The agricultural agencies that no doubt subsidized all sorts of infrastructure in order to notch another farm into their "green policy" hatchet handle are no doubt arguing with the environmental people about making a showcase operation look bad.

                  Few squabbles are like inter-agency bureaucratic fights.  One side has a darling to protect while the other side sees a demon to prosecute.  Meanwhile, fish keep dying; kids can't play in the creek; neighbors hold their noses.

                  Now for a moment of philosophical weeds.  This is the problem with a technocracy.  Under English common law, these kinds of issues were resolved in courts without benefit of bureaucrats.  The whole idea of the commons originated to protect peasants from nobility encroachment.  The sheriff protected the shire; that's the background of the word sheriff.

                  When we arrogate to government agencies the oversight of the commons (the environment) we automatically and tragically subjugate police powers to a nameless, faceless bureaucracy rather than a jury of our peers.  Generally, peers mean neighbors; the kind of people who live near the accused.  In this case, I guarantee you the peers would throw the book at this CAFO.  Instead, we have all sorts of behind-the-scenes wrangling between bureaucrats, involving BIG AG, BIG LOBBY, and the peasants end up on the short end of the stick.

                  Agency capture, which RFK Jr. keeps harping on, is real, and these kinds of situations reveal how real the problem is.  The solution is not honest agencies; the solution is to abolish the agencies outright and return to English common law whereby any citizen(s) may bring a commons-violator to justice through a jury of peers in a courtroom.  That would absolve the back door cronyism and political-bureaucratic fraternization that characterizes our culture.  And the fat salaries, holidays, and pensions bureaucrats enjoy.

                  All policy is a tradeoff.  Have state Departments of Environmental Quality or the federal Environmental Protection Agency stopped some bad things?  Yes.  But they've also enabled many bad things and harassed many good people.  The most disempowering thing you can tell people is that the only solution to a problem is regulatory bureaucratic oversight.  

                  Can people be trusted to run scofflaws out of town judicially without resorting to the burden of bureaucracy?