Court Rules That “Living Off The Grid” is Now Illegal

Posted by SaltyDog 10 years, 4 months ago to Government
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Cape Coral is admittedly a small town, and this would appear to be a small matter. With that said, the implication could be huge. Can a court order you to disconnect from your solar farm and connect to the local power grid? Take down your clothesline and buy a dryer? I can see septic waste if there's a municipal sewer line, as that would affect others. But what if you're a little more rural (as I am) and your property abuts a lake, river or stream? Could you access that water supply to irrigate your lawn and garden, and supply your septic system water? What about a rain barrel system? Could that be ruled illegal as well?
SOURCE URL: http://www.truthandaction.org/court-rules-living-grid-now-illegal/


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  • Posted by wiggys 10 years, 4 months ago
    control, control, control is all the government representatives want over as many of us as possible. let the wetbacks in so the government representatives can try to control them especially after the wetbacks learn that they are not going to get from the government representatives what they thought they would get. ferguson and baltimore are just the start. wetbacks welcome to america.
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  • Posted by LibertyBelle 10 years, 4 months ago
    Another instance of what the statists are trying to
    do. It is not enough to rob producers and try to
    control their businesses; people must now be for-
    bidden to have their independence, and be forced
    into a dependency on the government, and be forced to wait around and beg for crumbs to be
    tossed to them.
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  • Posted by Zenphamy 10 years, 4 months ago
    I heard about the case a while back. Sad. You mentioned rain water. In Maryland catching rainwater was ruled illegal last year or the year before.
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    • Posted by 10 years, 4 months ago
      Really?!? What was the reasoning behind that?

      I would contend that it would be beneficial for watering the garden, lawn, etc. Oh, wait...there wouldn't be any way to tax a rain barrel would there.
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      • Posted by DavidT 10 years, 4 months ago
        The theory is that the water you collect should go into the public water supply or be allowed to collect in the aquifers. By collecting it on your own you are "stealing" from others. MD isn't the only place this is happening, a guy is spending time behind bars for collecting rainwater out west somewhere.
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        • Posted by $ jdg 10 years, 4 months ago
          In the Rio Grande valley it is forbidden because it violates a water rights treaty with Mexico. I'm not surprised that other places have similar rules.

          This is something to research before you decide to move somewhere.
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    • Posted by plusaf 10 years, 4 months ago
      So you don't think Falk's 33rd Law has already covered this?
      http://www.plusaf.com/falklaws.htm#33rd

      Falk's Thirty-Third Law:

      "The Only Criterion for putting a Tax on something is that the "something" must be Measurable. No other reason is necessary."


      You will never find any other explanation which explains so rationally and succinctly why anything is taxed.

      If it can be measured, it's a target for someone in Government to find a justification to tax it.

      Remember the Boston Tea Party? "Taxation Without Representation"?

      Now consider the Inheritance Tax. [a.k.a., "Estate Taxes"] ... If that's not the ultimate "Taxation Without Representation," what is?
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      • Posted by Zenphamy 10 years, 4 months ago
        Of course I understand 'Falk's Law'. Damn near every tax and fee we've been saddled with is insane. Between taxing us at +/- 50% of income (direct and hidden taxes plus fees) and saddling the economy with an unmanageable debt, and as you say, taking a huge bite out of what we have left when we die; we're now essentially slaved, as are our children and even grand children. It doesn't even matter anymore what they spend the money on--the goal is the destruction of what we have left of the Founder's America, individualism, and the American character.

        I wouldn't be surprised if someone proposes taxing the air we breathe to pay for the EPA's and NHI's work to keep our air clean.
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        • Posted by plusaf 10 years, 4 months ago
          But Zen, I doubt that rant makes you feel any better than it would make me feel if I'd launched it... :(

          What do you think anyone can do to raise the consciousness of the general population so they understand what my 3rd Law means to all of us?

          And if you consider most of the EPA's laws, some of which are exceptionally stupid in their own ways, 'they' already DO 'tax the air we breathe'!
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  • Posted by MelissaA 10 years, 4 months ago
    It is considered illegal because it is not reliant upon government services, it is in a way living a life apart from the federal government (as much as is possible anyways)
    The government feels threatened by that witch it cannot control. I am past the point of being angry anymore, I am simply disgusted. It reminds me of somthing Ayn Rand wrote
    "There was no triumph in his face, no elation, only the still intensity of contemplating the enormity of the smallness of the enemy who was destroying the world. He felt as if, after a journey of years through the landscape bof devastation, past the ruins of great factories, the wrecks of powerful engines, the bodies of invincible men, he had come upon the dispoiler, expecting to find a giant - and had found a rat eager to scurry for cover at the firstbsound of a human step. If this is what has beaten us, he thought, the guilt is ours... If we who where the movers, the providers, the benefactors of mnankind , where willing to let this brand of evil be stamped on us and silently bear the punishment for our virtues- what sort of "good" did we except to triumph in the world?"
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  • Posted by Herb7734 10 years, 4 months ago
    Goodbye Freedom. It was nice knowing you. I also liked your brothers, Life, and Happiness. I sure will be saddened when they go away. What can I do to talk you into staying?
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  • Posted by vido 10 years, 4 months ago
    What is illegal is that ruling itself. Thankfully people have the right to bear arms and the duty to resist a dictatorship.
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  • Posted by XenokRoy 10 years, 4 months ago
    I do not see septic waste. I have a well, a septic tank and I purposefully put one in that was twice what the house required so that it would not effect my own soil.

    I can see a requirement for a larger than currently required system, but state that you cant have one is just plain wrong.

    By this ruling I would be illegal. I have my own water, energy and waste systems. With todays technology decentralization of such systems should be the norm. It would reduce vulnerability to terrorism, reduce pollution and increase freedom.
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  • Posted by Eyecu2 10 years, 4 months ago
    If I remember correctly the issue that this lady is facing is that she is connected to the local sewage but wanting to be disconnected from the water supply. The problem here is that sewage cost is calculated based on water consumption. She would therefore be able to use the local sewage system without consuming any water and therefore be able to use the sewage at no cost.

    A very simple solution was offered that she remain connected to the local water supply but place a valve down stream from the meter and turn it off. She would then be charged the minimum connection fee each month and be able to use the sewage as much as she liked. She didn't like the offered solution and eventually landed in court over her desire to disconnect from the water supply.

    BTW where she lives she is required to be connected to the local sewage.
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  • Posted by freedomforall 10 years, 4 months ago
    The next Andrew should drop on the houses of the judge and all the city council. While they are in deep shit those "off the grid" will have business as usual.... except for all the neighbors coming over.
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  • Posted by DeanStriker 10 years, 4 months ago
    Uh, inadequate article. Ordered by whom, and under what "law" or "codes"? Has anything been "proven" which indicates harm to others or their property? We all know that governments are run by the insane, but isn't it about time to put a stop to that. Unfortunately Robin Speronis may have to pursue this in the courts of our Rulers.
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 10 years, 4 months ago
    Yes it could and the property (which only means you buy the right to pay property tax) need not abut. For example if it is on the shores of a lake or river which as part of a complete water system and any portion of which is geocontiguous (that was the actual word used) to another portion which is a protected area you have...zero rights. Rogue River System in Southern Oregon in a case 20 years or so ago dealing with the right to build a dock or not. the location was 30 miles I think upstream.
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  • Posted by $ iamfrankblanco 10 years, 4 months ago
    That's so funny that you should post this, I got her attorney to come speak to our Florida Constitutional Law class and it was really interesting. We even started collecting signatures for a constitutional amendment.
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  • Posted by plusaf 10 years, 4 months ago
    I thought I'd read about that stupidity a year or two ago... is there a timestamp on the article. I didn't see any... maybe a Google search is in order.

    Yep... nearly a year ago...
    https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=n...

    Follow the money. Follow the power (electric or legal or governmental.)

    I get charged a sewer fee based on the volume of water that flows into my plumbing through the meter outside my house.

    Incredibly, if I spray some (or most) of that water on my plants and lawn, the City charges me a sewer fee based on Inflow Only.

    Neat 'assumption,' eh?

    Lucky for us, for the past two or three years, the rains have been sufficient to keep my lawn and plants going, so our 'irrigation water usage' has been zero for that time.

    And it's looking like this is going to be another wet year, too. If the HOA permits it, next time a drought comes our way, I'm planting weeds and rocks, just as I did in CA when water supplies got slim a decade or two back in Silicon Valley.

    Oh, and local laws DO permit my rooftop solar cells to provide some of the electric power for our home and excess is sold to the local monopoly.

    Such is life.
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  • Posted by DaveM49 10 years, 4 months ago
    Several areas have laws against capturing rainwater. Apparently, even when it falls on your property, rain is not your property. No idea if there is a court ruling yet on water that runs downhill.
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  • Posted by Ranter 10 years, 4 months ago
    Since I was a child (a long time ago) it has been necessary to connect one's house if connections were available. One can then elect not to use the connections, but that is a different matter. One must be connected if municipal connections are available. The townships consider it a matter of life and safety.
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    • Posted by 10 years, 4 months ago
      Same here...there has always been a connection to the house, and that's that. Even if you don't use a drop of the water, you still have to pay what they call here a "Base Facility Charge", plus applicable fees and taxes.
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  • Posted by Ranter 10 years, 4 months ago
    In Sparta, as a birth control method, it was customary for men and women to maintain homosexual relationships outside their marriage and to have sex with one's spouse only for the purpose of having children.
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  • Posted by evlwhtguy 10 years, 4 months ago
    This case has been around a while. This lady is getting her own water but she expects to use the sewer system. The only way most water/sewer systems have to bill for sewer is to bill it based on water usage since you can’t easily measure sewage. This lady is a parasite, wanting something for nothing. If she is all jazzed about being independent and living off the grid, she needs to get off of the grid, not say she is while sponging off of others.
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    • Posted by $ jdg 10 years, 4 months ago
      So long as she is forced to use the sewer system, I don't see that she is a "mooch" for doing so.
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      • Posted by evlwhtguy 10 years, 4 months ago
        So where the heck is she going to poop if she doesn’t use the sewer system??? And where does the waste water from her washing machine and shower go. Does she crap on the yard and let all that other wastewater flow on to her neighbors property? She can do that if she lives in the middle of nowhere and has sufficient land that no waste water flows off her property. But I guarantee, she lives on a 1/8th acre lot in town. In a free society you can swing your fist anywhere, just as long as you don’t hit anyone else. Living in a town forces you to use the sewage system, otherwise disease etc will spread...this woman is a moocher.
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