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If you live in or visit Wyoming, taking a picture of a polluted stream as a concerned citizen for the purpose of informing the EPA, National Forestry Service or any other agency could land you a $5000 fine and up to a year in jail.
Some are touting the law as a way to protect ranchers from scientists and whistleblowers from crossing their lands to collect evidence of wrongdoing, as those lands are private and should be protected from trespass.
The reality of the law is far more simple. It’s a broad overreach that makes any data collected evidence of a trespassing crime, whether a rancher can prove trespassing or not, rather than evidence of an environmental crime.
Several states already have laws on the books making it a crime to capture evidence of animal cruelty - even by employees who are legally on the premises of firms that raise and process livestock. This Wyoming law takes it a step further.
These priorities are sickening.
If you live in or visit Wyoming, taking a picture of a polluted stream as a concerned citizen for the purpose of informing the EPA, National Forestry Service or any other agency could land you a $5000 fine and up to a year in jail.
Some are touting the law as a way to protect ranchers from scientists and whistleblowers from crossing their lands to collect evidence of wrongdoing, as those lands are private and should be protected from trespass.
The reality of the law is far more simple. It’s a broad overreach that makes any data collected evidence of a trespassing crime, whether a rancher can prove trespassing or not, rather than evidence of an environmental crime.
Several states already have laws on the books making it a crime to capture evidence of animal cruelty - even by employees who are legally on the premises of firms that raise and process livestock. This Wyoming law takes it a step further.
These priorities are sickening.
