In this day and age where livestock is being falsely blamed for climate change, many state and federal agencies are filling their ranks with brainwashed agenda-driven staff who think this country’s food is grown at the grocery store and a stock pond causes pollution.  Those of us who live our lives on farms and ranches understand the cohesive relationship between growing food and caring for the planet, making us honor-bound to not only share stories like what is happening to the King family but to also help educate those in middle America who are only hearing one side of the story.

For generations, ranchers in more arid areas all over the country have excavated low-lying areas to encourage water to pool for their livestock.  It is a long-standing and well-accepted practice that benefits not only the ranch’s stock, but any native wildlife and birds in the area.  This is also usually a legally protected or exempted agricultural practice regarding water rights.

With the 2023 landmark ruling in Sackett v EPA, the United States Supreme Court limited the reach of the federal Clean Water Act to wetlands connected to water bodies under WOTUS.  “In sum, we hold that the CWA extends to only those ‘wetlands with a continuous surface connection to bodies that are waters of the United States in their own right,’ so that they are ‘indistinguishable’ from those waters,” the court ruled.

Leaving state agencies jurisdiction over all other water now referred to as “Waters of the State”. In Washington, it is the Department of Ecology (DOE) that has the authority under Washington’s Water Pollution Control Act. 

For the last several years, the DOE has been pushing to declare more areas as protected “wetlands”, specifically targeting land used for agricultural purposes.

Currently for land to be legally identified as wetlands in the state of Washington, it must first meet these three diagnostic factors:

a)            A predominance of hydric soil.

b)            The presence of hydrophytic vegetation.

c)            Surface-inundation and saturation for a significant portion of the growing season of every year under normal precipitation and that excludes all man-made, created wet areas from any governmental authority.

So, it came as a huge surprise that on February 10, 2023, without notice, conversation, or due process, the DOE released a public notice of a $267,540 fine against Wade and Teresa King of King Ranch in Coulee City.  Claimed they “illegally damaged at least 23 alkali wetlands” on their private ranch as well as state and federal land they have leased for grazing for over 68 years. 

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR), bowing to pressure from the Department of Ecology, then determined the King’s alleged stock pond maintenance violated the terms of the grazing lease and therefore canceled their 68-year grazing lease.

The fine, other civil penalties, an ongoing secret criminal investigation of Wade & Teresa and their employee, and DNR lease termination all came as a shock to the family.   As long-time ranchers, the Kings have been managing their livestock operation using exempt stock water rights under RCW 90.44.050 and putting the land and water to full beneficial use with historic customary industry standards and permitted uses since the 1950s.

According to the King’s consultant, John Stuhlmiller, the Washington Department of Ecology has drastically overstepped its legal bounds.  The 23 stock ponds in question do not meet the 3 necessary requirements to be legally identified as wetlands.  In fact, they are often dry.

This entire situation started in 2021 with an anonymous tip from a hiker and some grainy aerial photos (some from Google Earth) showing possible excavated areas. It is important to note that these areas were and are still not legally declared wetlands and have been used for stock watering for 120 years – since before the Kings started grazing in the area.

To make matters worse, it was also discovered that on April 3, 2023, the Department of Ecology and the Department of Natural Resources entered into a secret Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that illegally hands DNR’s leasing and land management authority over to the DOE. The MOA gives the DOE nearly autonomous control over the terms of DNR grazing and other upland leases for the purpose of “wetland” protection. The agreement commits the DNR to insert language into leases regarding wetlands, consult with the DOE when reviewing leases and to notify them of disturbance to wetlands.  It was developed and signed without any public process, but it can and will affect all DNR lessees in the state of Washington.  Yet another reason why it is important to pay attention to this precedent-setting situation.

The Kings Stand Up for Their Rights

The Kings appealed DOE’s decision to the State Pollution Control Hearings Board (PCHB) regarding the nearly $270,000 fine. Then filed a lawsuit on Dec. 22, 2023, in Grant County Superior Court, against DNR and DOE for violating the King’s permit-exempt stock water rights, penalizing long-standing agricultural practices, and overextending the state’s Water Pollution Control Act.

State law says the DOE must: 1) consider all beneficial uses of waters of the state, including stock watering; 2) minimize the risk of agricultural conversion due to enforcement; 3) enforce RCW 90.48 in a way that does not interfere with water rights, including stock water; and 4) first apply “voluntary, incentive-based methods” before pursuing enforcement.

Note: RCW 90.48.422(3) states “The department may not abrogate, supersede, impair or condition the ability of a water right holder to fully divert or withdraw water under a water right permit, certificate, statutory exemption or claim granted or recognized under chapter …90.44 RCW”.

Additionally, they believe the DOE violated the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) by illegally adopting two new rules in reference to the case and regulated outside its authority.

While the DOE was accusing the Kings of environmental violations and grazing lease violations, they were also conducting a secret criminal investigation. The alleged crime was the same normal agricultural exempt digging that the DOE was investigating as a civil violation. DOE staff members tried to trick the Kings into believing there was no criminal jeopardy and into providing evidence against themselves for the alleged criminal violations. It is illegal to use such deceptive practices when conducting parallel civil and criminal investigations (U.S. v. Stringer). The DOE was working closely with the Environmental Protection Division (EPD) in the state attorney general’s office, a group that normally investigates serious environmental crimes.

In addition to the suits involving the DOE, the Kings are also in court to stop the Department of Natural Resources from canceling a 12,838-acre grazing lease.  This lawsuit claims the DNR wrongly canceled the King’s leases in response to the DOE’s allegations. The DNR showed an “inappropriate deference” to the DOE and jumped the gun to penalize the Kings for standard agricultural practices. “The King Ranch has leased land from DNR for 68 years and had a good relationship with the department until the DOE made the accusations,” according to the lawsuit. “The DNR had never required the Kings to permission to excavate stock-watering ponds, which also benefit birds and wildlife. The DNR has known about and has approved of the Kings’ practices and management of the leased lands for decades,” the lawsuit reads. “The Kings have always conducted their agricultural operations consistent with standard industry practices designed to provide stock water and benefit wildlife in this arid part of the state,” according to the lawsuit.

The Kings have their work cut out for them as they fight on multiple fronts to save their ranch and protect their rights, but thankfully, they do have a knowledgeable attorney, an industry consultant, and support from the Washington Cattlemen’s Association (WCA), Cattle Producers of WA (CPoW), WA Cattle Feeders Association (WCFA), Washington State Dairy Federation (WSDF), WA Farm Bureau (WFB), Citizens Action Defense Fund (CADF), Stevens County Cattlemen Assoc (SCCA), and Whitman (WCCA), Yakima (YCCA), and Kittitas County Cattlemen (KCCA).

As our world becomes more urban these types of legal battles become more prevalent.  There is continued and growing tension between agricultural practices and environmental conservation across the nation. The outcome of this case could significantly impact the interpretation and enforcement of environmental regulations, particularly in the context of wetland management and preservation.

We at Western Justice know how important it is to raise awareness and help educate Americans from all walks of life about the many methods of farming and ranching.  This includes the departmental and legislative processes that are involved. The situation with the Kings is just one example of what is going on all over the country, and it is having a negative effect on our nation as a whole with regard to food and national security.

Western Justice was founded on the premise that through education and advocacy, rural Americans can work together, support each other, and preserve the ways of life and the industries that are the bedrock of our country.

Consider helping the Kings by donating to their fundraiser on the Rural America In Action platform: https://www.ruralamericainaction.com/fundraising/save-king-ranch-and-agriculture-in-washington