Back in July, The Daily Signal reported about a Fauquier County, Va. farmer who was harassed by county officials at the urging of an environmentalist group named The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC). The PEC urged a Fauquier County zoning official and members of the county Board of Supervisors to initiate an investigation of a local farmer named Martha Boneta that lead to numerous zoning violation citations.

Martha Boneta bought a family farm in Paris, Virginia in 2006 and has been involved in an eight year struggle to defend herself from harassment by county officials at the urging of the PEC. She filed suit against the PEC and the county stating the group violated state law regarding easements. The PEC signed an easement when they sold the farm to Ms. Boneta and states she is bound by its rules. But, according to The Daily Signal, there is no proof that PEC was ever the legitimate owner of the property and Ms. Boneta never received any tax benefit as allowed under Virgnia tax laws. However, under the easement, the buyer agrees to take measures to preserve the property when they take ownership. Instead, it seems that PEC piggybacked on the Virginia Outdoor Foundation (VOF) as a co-owner in which VOF is a state agency established to preserve open space.

The Piedmont Environmental Council is allowed to inspect the property as per the agreement but there are limits. However, the PEC allegedly went above and beyond what would be considered reasonable inspections. At one point, the PEC had considered proposing the placement of surveillance cameras on her property to monitor Ms. Boneta’s activities.

“Anything beyond the easement terms could be considered trespassing, which involves civil and criminal penalties,” Boneta said. “In the past, during previous inspections, the PEC has looked into closets and other personal areas, which I thought was excessive.”

Daily Signal reporter Chris Mooney looked into the Piedmont Environmental Council and the group is a non-profit environmentalist organization that receives hundreds of thousands of dollars from left-leaning charities such as the Tides and Surdna Foundations, the Agua Fund and the Mars Foundation. Unfortunately, county zoning boards have upheld the fines leveled against Ms. Boneta for her violations and she received an IRS notice of audit covering 2010 to 2011 tax periods that cover her legal dispute. It just so happens that a PEC board member named Margaret “Peggy” Richardson served as IRS Chief under President Bill Clinton. Ms. Richardson said the audit was a coincidence but the Inspector General of the Treasury Department was conducting an internal investigation at the time of the report.

This is a prime example of how much of a threat the environmentalist movement is. Green groups are anti-freedom in the purest sense since they attack a person’s liberty by try to destroy their proprty rights. In the case of Ms. Martha Boneta, the Piedmont Environmental Council attempted to drive her off her farm using not only a legally binding contract but also by colluding with government officials. Fortunately, the Virginia state legislature took measures to correct abuses of easements but the abuse Ms. Boneta suffered at the hands of this green-motivated harassment campaign demonstrates the extent to which environmentalists will go to destroy someone’s liberty. Below is a video done by The Daily Signal about Martha Boneta’s struggle.