Before he began construction, Johnson thought he was playing by the rules.

He applied for a permit with the Wyoming State Engineer’s Office. The state approved his initial construction plans and issued a permit. After construction, the state said he was in good standing and “exercised” construction as permitted.

What Johnson didn’t know was that he needed to file a permit with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build the pond.

The EPA requires projects on the “waters of the United States” to receive the Army permit. The EPA’s logic for deeming the two-foot wide and six-inch deep section of the Creek a part of the “waters of the United States” goes as follows: Six Mile Creek is a tributary of the Blacks Fork River, which is a tributary of the Green River. Because of Six Mile Creek’s relationship to the larger waterways, the EPA claims the creek is subject to the Clean Water Act.

Johnson argues that the creek’s waters are dispersed through irrigation canals and never make the nearly 100-mile journey to the Green River, he said.

“The pond doesn’t start in a river or end in a river,” he said.