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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWyoming Makes It Illegal To Collect Evidence Of Pollution On Public Property
By John Vibes
The state of Wyoming recently passed Senate Bill 12, the Data Trespass Bill, which will prevent people from collecting evidence of pollution, even on public lands. The bill prohibits the collecting of information on property that the person does not own, even public and federal land.
According to the text of the bill, it is now illegal to take a sample of material, acquire, gather, photograph or otherwise preserve information in any form from open land which is submitted or intended to be submitted to any agency of the state or federal government.
Simply taking a picture or collecting trash from a polluted stream could lead to $5,000 in fines and a year in prison.
Justin Pidot, an assistant professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law recently told Think Progress that, People on the ground, who have been engaged in this kind of data collection in the past, now have to face the worry about being potentially prosecuted. The chilling effect on citizen participation is huge.
This is sort of a new tactic were seeing, where state governments are trying to build legal rules that prevent people from uncovering information about favored industrial groups. I think its very concerning as a phenomenon, he added.
more
http://www.activistpost.com/2016/01/us-state-makes-it-illegal-to-collect-evidence-of-pollution-on-public-property.html
Freedumb!
Buzz Clik
(38,437 posts)GeorgeGist
(25,323 posts)daleanime
(17,796 posts)but you've got to be fucking kidding me.
elleng
(131,107 posts)DUMB is RIGHT!
and totally against any rational PUBLIC POLICY!
ck4829
(35,091 posts)Really?
It won't hold up in federal court, of course.
annabanana
(52,791 posts)sonofspy777
(360 posts)Typical idiocy. Worthy of the Dark Lord
grntuscarora
(1,249 posts)So it's illegal to take a sample of material, acquire, gather, photograph or otherwise preserve information in any form from open land which is submitted or intended to be submitted to any agency of the state or federal government.
It doesn't appear to prevent someone from posting info to youtube, a blog, or even share it with a news agency. Frankly, direct submission to "any agency of the state or federal government" is a pretty good way to get your info buried, and what activist would waste their time with that?
But perhaps there is more in the bill than what was in the linked article.
I have a feeling the courts will be getting involved, and I hope they protect the taxpayers that own that public land!
pnwmom
(108,994 posts)and then wait for someone else to submit it?
grntuscarora
(1,249 posts)It seems though, that often, once info is made public, and general ire is aroused, the ptb have to deal with it, whether they want to or not. And the original poster's defense could be that she had No intent to submit it to a government agency.
But I'm just speculating on very little info.
pnwmom
(108,994 posts)grntuscarora
(1,249 posts)nt
Cal Carpenter
(4,959 posts)I've taken soil samples to be sent to the state university extension program who do a thorough analysis. Seems like it would be illegal to do that if the sample is from open land.
Or if you manage to get the results of such a test through a private company, maybe this law would make it illegal to submit that as evidence in court, for example.
I don't know, without being a legal or pollution expert, I can still see some ways that this could be really, really bad as far as citizens having the ability to expose abuse of public lands.
grntuscarora
(1,249 posts)My first reaction to something like this is to look for the loopholes and to start thinking of ways to get around it. But that would be enormously difficult to do in the example you gave.
I hope the courts do the right thing and kill it!
Cassiopeia
(2,603 posts)If any prosecution by a government agency is started they now have an easy way to get "illegally" obtained evidence thrown out of a trial.
pnwmom
(108,994 posts)SusanCalvin
(6,592 posts)Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)hlthe2b
(102,359 posts)smaller, sparsely populated states, you would be shocked and then likely nod as to how this could have been written and passed. Having had to deal with legislators in the past, it was an eye opening (and very disillusioning) experience. While I appreciate that a PhD or masters degree is not a prerequisite for public service, I think that most should have at least completed high school. This is NOT a given in many state legislatures. Granted there are brilliant people who never make it to college, but I do believe they are the exception.
pnwmom
(108,994 posts)hlthe2b
(102,359 posts)If you check thoroughly, you might even find that to be the case in smaller districts in even larger states.
I really don't think I'm being an educational "elitist" to be a bit shocked by that fact.
My idealism went out the window when I realized exactly why so many had no intention of deciding issues based on facts presented, rather than emotion or ideology.
pnwmom
(108,994 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)And most of them are college grads
hlthe2b
(102,359 posts)I am happy you are happy.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)tabasco
(22,974 posts)This law needs to become null and void and the idiots who voted for it flogged in public.
cali
(114,904 posts)A federal judge has rejected the state of Wyoming's motion to dismiss a lawsuit aimed at striking down a pair of laws that make it illegal to collect data from public lands without first gaining permission.
U.S. District Court Judge Scott Skavdahl issued the order on Monday, finding that Wyoming's "data trespass" laws may unconstitutionally criminalize activities such as photography on public lands.
Groups suing the state say the case strikes at the heart of free speech and the right to petition the government as protected under the First Amendment, as well as equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment. "A law that makes sharing photos of Devil's Tower or Yellowstone a punishable offense just isn't consistent with Americans' right to Free Speech," Natural Resources Defense Council senior attorney Michael Wall said in a prepared statement.
Earlier this year, the Wyoming Legislature passed Senate File 12 creating the crime of trespassing to collect data, and Senate File 80, which made the practice a civil violation. Key in the language of the statutes is the application to all "open lands" outside of municipalities.
"At this stage, the Court finds it difficult to conceive a permissible rationale for preventing the collection of resource data on lands which the public has the right to be upon," Skavdahl wrote in the 38-page order. "Nothing indicates this activity is more disruptive, destructive, or problematic than other uses."
<snip>
http://www.hcn.org/articles/court-will-hear-case-against-data-trespass-laws
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)I doubt seriously if it will withstand even a weak challenge.
Simeon Salus
(1,144 posts)If I'm a gigantic corporation, I'm opening a landfill in Cheyenne this weekend.
PCBs, nuclear waste, black tar sand waste, truck it all down to WY.
Fitting isn't it that the land of Cheney is now the giant asshole of America.
restorefreedom
(12,655 posts)JohnnyRingo
(18,641 posts)This isn't even smoke & mirrors.
elmac
(4,642 posts)they turn this country into one big chemical dump to make a buck. Home grown terrorists.
SwankyXomb
(2,030 posts)in a Cayman Islands post office box.
Thespian2
(2,741 posts)when I lived in Waynesboro, Va, my neighbour and I had several streams that we took water samples from once each month...the samples were processed by scientists at Virginia Tech with the results going to the state government...
If we did that now in Wyoming, we would face prosecution?...what a world, ah?
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,036 posts)But many legislators pay that no mind -- they are pandering to their bases or their paymasters.
Botany
(70,581 posts)If it wasn't for rigged voting, gerrymandering, voter suppression, and a dirty media
the republican party would be in the toilet ready to go down the drain.
They want to kill off USPS, public schools, women's rights, the EPA, and the public's
constitutionally protected rights.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)This long game has been in progress for decades, and you've listed many of the current issues.
elmac
(4,642 posts)They could continue to poison little kids in Flint MI while keeping their lead water from being exposed.
K&R!
OS