Duarte prosecution bias, inaccuracies extends even to incorrectly drawn map of the region

NOTE: This is a sidebar to the main article: Ripped? Not so much. U.S. Attorney promotes unsubstantiated & inflammatory allegations in Duarte plowing case

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The prosecution effort to prejudice its case extends even to inaccuracies found in their expert witness map of the region.

 

The map, reproduced below, overstates the significance of intermittent seasonal streams by failing to use government-standard map symbols and, instead, graphically representing those streams with the topological equivalent of the Sacramento River.

 

The streams marked in blue near Duarte property are minor, seasonal, dry most of the year. However they are incorrectly represented on the map as perennial. Those minor streams are also represented by a symbol with equal to that of the Sacramento River.

 

An accurate map using proper symbols, would designate those seasonal with dashed lines to indicate their intermittent flow and would look like this according to this excerpt from the U.S. Geological Survey:

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Full documents, expert reports and court documents

• Corps of Engineers Deep Ripping Regulation

• Declaration Lyndon Lee 102715

• Department of Justice Expert Team Report-080715

• Direct Expert Testimony of Lyndon Lee filed 080417

• Expert Document-87-3-Filed080715

• U.S. Expert Disclosures and Designations

• Second Supplemental Report of Diane S. Moore

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Previous Wine Industry Insight Coverage

Duarte vs U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

• American Farm Bureau jumps into Duarte fight

• Duarte Opens Two New Legal Assaults In Federal Court Battle With Corps of Engineers

• Congressional Committee takes up Duarte plowing case: Calls on US Attorney General to explain “DOJ Overreach”

• Duarte Nursery faces $2.8 million fine for plowing field

• Federal judge denies Duarte request for reconsideration and appeal

• Plowing Is Pollution, Dry Streams Are Navigable Water Says Federal District Judge In Duarte “Plow A Field, Go To Jail” Lawsuits

• Vineyards, grain supplies have stake in Federal Plowing-Is-Pollution Case

• John Duarte’s “plow a field, go to jail” struggle with Feds makes LA Times

• Duarte Goes On Offensive In Battle with Feds. Outcome May Affect Vineyards, Other Ag

• Duarte wins a round against the Corps of Engineers, judge OKs new charges

Clean Water Act & WOTUS Issues

• The Clean Water ACT versus the Clean Water RULE

• National Geographic Confused Over Trump Rollback of Clean Water Rule

• How does soil become a pollutant? And a plow a “point source” of pollution?

• Clean Water Act Permits: Expensive, time-consuming, uncertain

• Ag exemptions to the CWA in law and as interpreted by Courts, EPA & Army Corps of Engineers

• Supreme Court’s “Nexus” author expresses second thoughts

• Clean Water Act: A Bare-Bones Primer

Other relevant articles

• Dire consequences face every farmer & landowner who fails to grasp the vast and vague regulation of the Clean Water Act
• Clean Water Act Permits: Expensive, time-consuming, uncertain
• Ag exemptions to the CWA in law and as interpreted by Courts, EPA & Army Corps of Engineers
• How does soil become a pollutant? And a plow a “point source” of pollution?
• Supreme Court’s “Nexus” author expresses second thoughts
• Clean Water Act: A Bare-Bones Primer

Interesting and/or helpful links

• Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co.
• Hawkes argument transcript
• Rapanos v. United States,
• Rapanos Argument
• Entergy v.Riverkeeper
• Borden Ranch
• Sackett v. EPA
• The Economics of Environmental Regulation,  Sunding & Zilberman, Natural Resources Journal
• 404 Permits Economic Analysis by EPA & Corps of Engineers