In Port Bolivar, Texas, Marinus Van Leuzen, a 73-year-old immigrant from Holland, decided to build his retirement home on some property he had owned for more than 20 years, less than half an acre of land. The Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency, however, determined his property to be "wetlands," and that as part of the construction he deposited "illegal fill material" on the property—even though the Corps' authority extends only to the filling of "navigable water" of the U.S. under the Clean Water Act.

As part of the court order, Van Leuzen must post a billboard (six feet off the ground, 10 feet high, 20 feet across) announcing his crime, and must put $350 a month into a special account for eight years. At the end of this eight years the money will be used to move his house. During the intervening years Mr. Van Leuzen must also spend a significant portion of his life savings to "restore" the land to its "pre-adulterated" condition, when it was home to a muddy bait camp: a cross between a campground and a fishing bait store, complete with outdoor latrines and scattered beer cans. Most nearby residents considered the bait camp an eyesore; few, if any, regarded it as an ecologically valuable wetland.

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