Washington Farmer Challenges State's Water-Rights Enforcement in Supreme Court Case
A farmer from Grant County, Ron Fodé, is challenging the Washington State Department of Ecology in a Supreme Court case over more than $600,000 in penalties. Fodé was penalized in 2017 for irrigating farmland without an approved seasonal water rights transfer. He argues that the Department of Ecology blocked the only lawful compliance pathway available to him. The case centers on a February 15 “office deadline” for applying for water rights transfers, which Fodé contends was not publicly adopted or published, and therefore should be subject to rulemaking. The Department of Ecology's role is to manage and allocate the state's public water resources, and unauthorized groundwater use is considered harmful due to depletion concerns. Fodé's legal counsel, the Pacific Legal Foundation, asserts that the Department of Ecology failed to provide adequate technical assistance as required by state law, instead merely informing Fodé of his violation.
