On private land, in the middle of his almost 5,000-acre farm, Joel Gross cannot build a home in Grant County, Washington, without first surrendering double the intended acreage for his house. A 2-for-1 unconstitutional abuse by the state, in his view.
After Gross protested on social media, county officials targeted his property, he contends, with hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential fees for crushing rock to gravel on his farm.
“Weaponized retaliation is what they’re doing,” Gross says. “I criticized government rules, and now non-elected bureaucrats, drunk on power, are trying to destroy my business, stop my home plans, and drag me through endless regulatory hoops by pretending I’m running a mining operation on my farm.”
“We’re regulated to death, but most people won’t say anything. Someone has to stand up or the state will keep stealing our property and our rights till we have nothing left. We are the proverbial frogs.”
Red Tape Nightmare
Surrounded by rugged beauty on 400 acres of alfalfa and wheat irrigated by center pivots, and 4,400 rangeland acres supporting Black Angus cattle, Gross farms outside Wilson Creek, alongside his wife and five children, in eastern Washington, and maintains several highly successful businesses beyond agriculture.
“We put our life savings in this land and farm. Now, all we want to do is build a home on our private property, keep our operation running, keep our farm workers employed and successful, steward the land, and help our community. Instead, we’ve run into a nightmare of red tape and regulations.”
In 2026, Gross set sights on home construction atop the pinnacle of his property, a hill of solid rock, thinly covered by sagebrush and cheatgrass. His plan was for a 6,000 sq. ft. house.
When Gross applied for a building permit with Grant County, he anticipated potential minor hitches over structural plans or engineering issues. Instead, his site acres were deemed part of the Washington Shrubsteppe Restoration and Resiliency Initiative, a wildlife and plant corridor covering 10 million acres. By law, Gross was required to set aside land to compensate for the acreage he planned to use and place the surrendered acres in a deed restriction.
All on land he owns and foots the tax bill.
“I have to give up land to use my land, or else pay mitigation fees. That’s extortion and an insane amount of regulation, not to mention all the permitting fees. This is as far outside the Constitution as it gets.”
“It’s crazy,” Gross continues. “Because of my corridor classification, I have to give up at least 2 acres for every acre I impact with house, driveway,
and solar panels—which they force me to install.”
“If I don’t give up my own land, then I have to pay mitigation fees to a bank that’s not been set up yet, but it’s like a carbon credit deal. This is too insane, and keep in mind, the 2-to-1 ratio is best-case-scenario at the moment, and it can go much higher for some landowners. This is a way for the state to control even more private land. The politicians pretend to work on affordable housing solutions, all while putting up regulatory roadblocks that make building a house extremely expensive.”
Local and state regulations account for approximately $203,976 (or 29.5%) of the median new home sales price ($690,701) in Washington State, according to a BIAW sampling of counties (not including Grant County). Nationwide, regulations make up 23.8% of the cost of a new home—remarkably high, but still 5.7% below Washington State.
Prior to construction, Gross must undergo a habitat inspection via an accredited biologist, which can cost from $2,000-$10,000, he estimates. “It’s basically a permission slip they force everyone to pay for. People need to wake up, because we’ve let ourselves be controlled and taxed to absurd levels that our forefathers would never recognize.”
Frustrated by what he believes are onerous directives, Gross penned his frustrations in a Facebook post, titled “CONFISCATED” on June 25, 2026, detailing the state’s regulatory requirements and declaring his disgust with “corrupt WA (Washington) politicians.”
He focused his ire on the Washington Legislature, but the county took extreme offense.
Two days later, on June 27, Grant County Development Services Director Jim Anderson-Cook, writing on his personal Facebook page, posted a 1,500-word response, titled “MISINFORMATION,” denying Gross’ claims. Anderson-Cook pinned the response to the top of his profile, and claimed Grant County employees had received multiple death threats after Gross spoke out in the press. (Anderson-Cook’s post is no longer pinned, and has since been entirely removed from his personal page.)
“It was unbelievable,” Gross describes. “The public county director, even though I said positive things about the county and I said was tired of state-level actions, pinned a response about me, which essentially labeled me a liar, to the top of his private page. That, by itself, is incredibly alarming and unreasonable.”
In retaliation for exercising his First Amendment rights, Gross contends, the county followed with even heavier regulatory demands.
“Next thing I knew, they hit me with a backbreaking penalty, and claimed I was operating an industrial mine on my farm. The timing was obvious. I absolutely believe I was targeted.”
A Change of Tune
Months prior to Gross’ June 2026 social media post criticizing state regulations, Grant County reps visited his property on Feb. 11. Why? Gross needed to mine rock to make gravel for road maintenance. Grant County Development Services Director Jim Anderson-Cook and Deputy Director Michelle Mercer walked his land to view the terrain and ensure proper compliance.
“I made it crystal clear to the county that the purpose of this permission to crush rock was only for on-farm use here—nothing would be sold or used anywhere else,” Gross notes. “If I was going to sell rock or something later, I would return to them for new permits.”
“They took a look, gave me a green light, and said I wouldn’t need a commercial mining permit. They just told me to stay clear of flood zone and potential historical areas. Road construction or upkeep on a farm, under Washington State law, is exempt from permitting.”
Across a vast property, Gross’ roads, cattle pads, and erosion controls were due an upgrade. When he purchased his farm in 2021, he had a major upkeep choice: Spend approximately $100,000 to buy gravel, or invest in rock crushing equipment for present and future use.
Believing he had permitting clearance, Gross spent $400,000 on crushing machinery. “My thinking was to learn how to do it and repair our dirt roads, instead of paying someone else. Then, I could continue to repair our place as needed, and if I learned well enough, maybe branch out someday into the crushing business for other landowners.”
However, Gross contends, once he made the social media post critical of the state and spoke out in the press, Grant County changed its tune. The county reclassified Gross’ farm gravel use as an “industrial surface mine,” requiring him to potentially pay up to $200,000 and undergo a multiyear process layered with permits and reviews.
“It’s outrageous. This is retaliation by the county. No farmer in Grant County history has ever had to get an industrial mining permit. I’m crushing my own rock to use on my own farm and not selling it. Literally, the gravel doesn’t leave my land. They’re treating me like an industrial miner and like someone who uses giant pits where trucks are going in and out all day long.”
“I had a green light in February, but after my post in June, I suddenly got an email in response from the county that said I had to get a conditional use permit to mine my own land for my own farm use. It includes a Mining Resource Overlay, and a SEPA (State Environmental Policy Act) review, which can be a multi-year process and potentially cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
(The core issue, Gross posits, is that Grant County is improperly attempting to reclassify exempt agricultural grading into industrial “surface mining.”)
Additionally, several biologists Gross had contacted to perform the required inspection for his home site went silent. “They suddenly ghosted me in the exact same time frame, and I know it’s not a coincidence. All together, this is retaliation because I was critical of government power. My crime was using the First Amendment’s free speech.”
Regulated to Exhaustion
It’s a double dose, according to Gross, of bureaucratic power: First, he was required to surrender land and jump through a chain of regulatory hoops. Second, because he publicly protested via a Facebook post, the county took another bite via draconian mining requirements.
Gross appealed to the Civil/Appellate Division of Grant County. In an email, Barbara Duerbeck, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney at the Grant County Prosecutor’s Office, told Agweb, “The County has been alerted to Mr. Gross’ concerns and is looking into them.”
Agweb asked for an interview with Anderson-Cook, but via Duerbeck, who cited an ongoing investigation, the request was declined.
“Abuse by bureaucrats that wield power like a weapon has to be stopped,” Gross says. “I want people to know what’s happening and how tough it’s become to build a house or start a small business.”
“It doesn’t matter how many acres you have. Any taking without compensation by the government is unconstitutional. And any retaliation for speaking out is a violation of free speech.”
As a farmer, rancher, businessman, and bootstrapper, Gross concludes that rural Washingtonians are regulated to exhaustion. “Look at the increase in regulations over the past few decades. If we continue to stay silent, how will the next generation run an agriculture operation or small business, or build a home on their own land?”
“If you think this is just about a handful of acres, you’re terribly mistaken,” he adds. “Everything we earn or own gets taken by income taxes, estate taxes, payroll taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, business and occupation taxes, fees, permits, etc. Enough is enough.”
For more from Chris Bennett (@ChrisBennettMS or cbennett@farmjournal.com or 662-592-1106), see:
Corn and Cocaine: Roger Reaves and the Most Incredible Farm Story Never Told
Game of Horns: Iowa Poacher’s Antler Addiction Leads to Historic Bust
Ghost Cattle: $650M Ponzi Rocks Livestock Industry, Money Still Missing
Georgia Watermelon Heist Explodes into Epic Night of Pandemonium
Sisters of Farm Fraud: How 4 Siblings Fleeced USDA for $10M
When Conservation Backfires: Landowner Defeats Feds in Mindboggling Private Property Case
Cold-Busted: Frozen Deer Decoy Nabs Poachers and Cocaine in Spectacular Sting
