Help Carrie Robertson keep her land

Joe Robertson's story of his fight with the EPA and the Forest Service is longer than it should be and is more complicated than needed.

Joe owns 200 acres above Basin, Montana. He leases out to the Helena Veterans Support program. He built some ponds close to his house for fire protection. The ponds were built in a spring that popped out of the ground, ran along the surface for a while and then disappeared underground again.

The EPA says he deposited dredge material that will eventually make it to the Jefferson River. They charged him with Polluting the Navigable Waters of the United States, rejecting expert testimony that this contamination did not happen.

Hmmm....it's a spring. See any boats? Tubes? The nearest water is Cataract Creek - a polluted creek that I have been told runs yellowish after a rain. This creek has old mining waste piles along it. Contamination from those piles runs into the Basin Creek, which runs into the Jefferson River.

Joe was tried 3 years ago and the jury could not come to an agreement, which resulted in a hung jury. The government filed charges and tried him again, this time moving the trial to Missoula. A judge, about whom Joe had written a letter, was brought out of retirement to try him. The government provided lawyer did nothing to fight for Joe. He was railroaded through the heart.

Joe's wife, Carrie, is trying to hold on to their land and deal with the $128,000 + restitution that is court ordered. She needs help to survive until Joe returns home in 18 mo. Without help, the government will get to take their land.

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