Washington family farm fights back against agency that ignored the law

Olympia, Washington; June 3, 2026: A Washington farmer will take his challenge to the Washington Supreme Court after the court agreed to hear his case against the state’s Department of Ecology, which penalized him for irrigating farmland without adequate water rights. Ron Fodé argues that Ecology violated a 2002 state law requiring the agency to provide information and technical assistance identifying a lawful means of compliance before imposing civil penalties — and instead enforced an unpublished internal deadline that eliminated his only option to comply.

“State law required Ecology to help Fodé find a way to comply before penalizing him, but the agency refused,” said Allison Daniel, an attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation. “Agencies cannot treat statutory requirements as suggestions or enforce secret internal policies as though they were law. Every Washington resident deserves to know that the legislature’s limits on agency power mean what they say.”

Ron Fodé has farmed in Grant County for more than 40 years. When Ecology told him he lacked adequate water rights to irrigate certain leased parcels, he sought a seasonal water rights transfer — a standard legal mechanism under Washington law. But Ecology refused to accept the application, citing an internal office deadline that had never been published or adopted through any public rulemaking process. With his only compliance pathway blocked, and without the technical assistance the law required Ecology to provide, the agency imposed substantial financial penalties.

A ruling in Fodé’s favor would affirm that agencies must follow the rules the legislature sets — and that they cannot enforce unpublished policies that were never subject to public notice or comment.

Pacific Legal Foundation represents Fodé free of charge. The case is Ron Fodé v. Washington State Department of Ecology.