My gut says, play by the letter of the law!!!! The law does NOT get to expand or grow on it's own! Anything less than black and white is ambiguous and as ambiguous, it is supposed to be unenforceable.
It has been asked who is responsible if a fish enters another person's pond, destroying a master stocking plan and goals....
If Person B builds a pond and carefully stocks his pond wanting only yellow perch, and then person A builds a pond and stocks it with bullhead, common carp, koi and goldfish. Both ponds are stocked with legal fish and all other laws that my apply are conformed with...
Person B gets his YP pond ruined because person A's pond overflows in a normal rain event and discharges as designed, has no barrier net and "polluted" person B's pond. Is Person A responsible for the damages to person B? NO!!! Person B knew, or should have known that by not controlling the ENTIRE watershed draining into the B pond and not taking action to prevent the entry of another unwanted species, person B took a risk, and lost..no actionable damage done!
Now, had person A intentionally drained his pond or altered it in any way to not conform to any pertinent law, person A IS responsible. Person B will still have to prove person A intentionally, or through some sort of neglect caused damage, in court, and a non=partial judge will decide who, if anyone is at fault.
Person B's failure to foresee and take precautions against a potential danger or damage in NO way requires person A to take extra precautions for person B...
If laws are to be applied fairly for all, and not misapplied as the EPA has done, there is no law at all! They should be entirely black and white....that is the only way a common person can know what they can and can not do. Subjective words and terms like, Reasonable precaution, or overly intrusive are for a court to decide, NOT any individual enforcing or wanting to apply a definition of their own choosing...again, as the EPA has done, and does.
The "morality" in this scenario is irrelevant....Morality can not, and should not be legislated, yet many of our laws now are very bad, because no morality was considered in the creation of the laws. That is the general population's fault for allowing our county's moral foundation to erode...
