A California farmer will pay $1.1 million for plowing federally protected wetlands and streams, the U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday, closing a yearslong legal battle that made him a rallying figure for critics of environmental regulation. The settlement with federal authorities, who had been due to start the penalty phase in Duarte's legal case Tuesday, includes civil penalties and money to restore wetlands and streams. The case began after Duarte bought fallow land within federally protected wetlands and streams in 2012, and paid a contractor to deep till it, or rip it. A federal court found against Duarte last year, saying the wetlands that Duarte tilled hadn't been plowed for at least 24 years. Duarte's attorneys said in a statement that federal prosecutors would have sought tens of millions of dollars from Duarte during the penalty phase of the legal case.

Source: ABC News August 15, 2017 20:03 UTC