SIMPSON OWNS AND OPERATES A EUCALYPTUS PLANTATION IN TEHAMA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. SINCE 1987, SIMPSON HAS PLANTED ROUGHLY 12,000 ACRES OF EUCALYPTUS TREES AS A SOURCE FOR WOOD CHIPS AT THIS LOCATION. PRIOR TO SIMPSON'S OPERATIONS, THE TEHAMA FIBER FARM CONTAINED AN EXTENSIVE NETWORK OF VERNAL POOLS AND EPHERMERAL STREAMS. SIMPSON'S OPERATIONS HAVE EFFECTIVELY OBLITERATED THE VERNAL POOLS AND MANY OF THE STREAMS. SIMPSON'S TREE PLANTING OPERATIONS INVOLVE DEEP RIPPING THE SOIL TO PREPARE IT FOR PLANTING. DEEP RIPPING IS A FORM OF LAND CLEARING ACTIVITIES THAT EPA AND THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS HAVE DETERMINED CONSTITUTE A DISCHARGE OF DREDGED MATERIAL, AT LEAST IN SOME CIRCUMSTANCES, WHEN PERFORMED IN WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES. REGION IX HAS CONCLUDED THAT SIMPSON'S DEEP RIPPING ACTIVITIES AT THE TEHAMA FIBER FARM CONSTITUTE DISCHARGES OF DREDGED MATERIAL THAT ARE SUBJECT TO REGULATION. SIMPSON ALSO HAS DISCHARGED DREDGED OR FILL MATERIAL FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF FARM ROADS. SIMPSON HAS NOT OBTAINED A PERMIT UNDER SECTION 404 OF THE CLEAN WATER ACT TO AUTHORIZE THESE DISCHARGES, AND THESE DISCHARGES ARE NOT EXEMPT FROM REGULATION PURSUANT TO SECTION 404(F) OF THE CLEAN WATER ACT. THE UNITED STATES HAS REACHED AN AGREEMENT IN PRINCIPLE WITH SIMPSON TO SETTLE THIS CASE. IN SETTLEMENT, SIMPSON HAS AGREED TO PAY A $30,000 CIVIL PENA