Running or walking,
but no farming says judge in Clous case
Trial
now set for June
by Lou
Blouin
Sweetwater Alliance North
TRAVERSE CITY—Bill Clous’ spring plans for his 360-acre East Bay
Township property may include an exercise regimen of walking or
running. But he won’t be farming.
So said
a Grand Traverse County judge Wednesday in an order barring any
further earth-moving on the site until a Circuit Court case against
Clous can be heard this June.
“We
need a rule that is simple, clear, easy to understand, and easy to
enforce,” Judge Thomas Power said to the parties seeking injunctive
relief. “Therefore, my order is: no vehicles of any kind on this
property until the judgment; no machinery of any kind until the
judgment; no activity other than walking or running, no exceptions,
no farming.”
Grand
Traverse County Prosecutor Dennis Labelle requested the injunction
after Clous repeatedly ignored stop-work orders from state and
county officials in late 2002.
“Mr.
Clous can’t be trusted,” Labelle said. “I wouldn’t give him two
dollars and a gas can if my tank was empty.”
In
August 2002, the County Drain Commissioner’s office discovered Clous
had illegally filled some 80 acres of wetlands at a site southeast
of Traverse City. State officials have called the violations among
the “most egregious” in Michigan’s history.
Clous
was contesting the injunction to allow for farming of some 60 acres
this spring.
LaBelle
and environmental attorney Chris Bzdok contended that allowing
further activity on the property would amount to “giving Clous the
reward of his misdeed.”
Clous’s
prior earth-moving on the property, which included clear-cutting,
stump removal, and wetland excavating—supposed preparation for
farming—had all been done without required permits from the County
or DEQ.
Judge
Power did not grant the County’s request for immediate remediation
measures. Bzdok argued that immediate action was needed to stabilize
the area and protect streams and wetlands against continued soil
erosion and sedimentation.
Power
rejected that argument claiming these issues were not “time
critical.”
The
accelerated timeframe for getting the case to trial, however, may
render Power’s dismissal of remediation measures moot.
“We
obviously would have preferred some immediate action to prevent
further degradation of the streams and wetlands,” said Holly Wren
Spaulding, an organizer with Sweetwater Alliance North.
“But
with the trial now scheduled for June, and a victory against Clous
looking likely, the wait for remediation should just be a matter of
months.”
State
actions against Clous are also pending. The DEQ appears to be moving
toward a settlement with Mr. Clous on state wetlands violations,
though Deputy Director Skip Pruss said last week the agency is not
ruling out litigation.
“It’s
crucial for DEQ’s eventual enforcement actions to reflect the
severity of the violations,” Spaulding said.
“Many
eyes, including those of developers, are focused on the agency and
how it will respond to violations of this magnitude. It’s absolutely
vital to send a clear message that eco-crimes will not go unpunished
in this state.”
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