Economists, historians, and legal experts will tell you that strong private property rights are fundamental to a free and prosperous society. Nations in which citizens can’t be sure that the law will protect their ownership rights are doomed to instability, stagnation, and corruption. That’s why I find stories like this one from Bloomberg Business Week so alarming –– it’s happening in Idaho. Imagine being Mike and Chantell Sackett and waking up one day to realize you must fight the federal government for your property. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to weigh in on the case in which the EPA says the Sacketts’ .63 acre lot is a wetland.
The Sacketts say they were stunned. The owners of an excavation company, they had secured all the necessary local permits. And Chantell Sackett says that before work began, she drove two hours to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, to consult with an Army Corps of Engineers official. She says the official told her orally, though not in writing, that she didn’t need a federal permit. “We did all the right things,” she says.
The EPA issued an order requiring the Sacketts to put the land back the way it was, removing the piles of fill material and replanting the vegetation they had cleared away. The property was to be fenced off and the Sacketts would be required to submit annual reports about its condition to the EPA. The agency threatened to fine them up to $32,500 a day until they complied.
If it can happen to this couple, it can happen to you and me.
