The Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment of the United States House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a September 11th hearing titled: Waters of the United States Implementation...more
Garry Lewis owns 2000 acres in Livingston Parish, Louisiana and he has been fighting with the Army Corps of Engineers over whether any of those 2000 acres are wetlands subject to Federal Clean Water Act jurisdiction for over...more
A United States District Court (W.D. Washington) (“Court”) addressed in a December 8th Order a request by Defendants Bobby Wolford Trucking & Salvage, Inc. (“Wolford Trucking”) and Karl Frederick Klock Pacific Bison, LLC...more
The third major development of 2023 for defining "Waters of the United States" ("WOTUS") has arrived. First, in early 2023, the United States Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") and the United States Army Corps of...more
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers recently announced a revised and final rule amending the definition of Waters of the United States (WOTUS) following the Supreme Court decision in Sackett v....more
On September 8, 2023, the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Army Corps of Engineers (collectively, the Agencies) published a final rule (Agency Rule) to amend the definition of “waters of the...more
On August 29, 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) released the text of a rule further revising the definition of “waters of the United States” (“WOTUS”) that the...more
On August 30, 2023, the United States Corps of Engineers (Corps) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a prepublication version of their final rulemaking amending their previous definition of “waters of the...more
This US Supreme Court’s administrative and environmental decisions were somewhat predictable for much of the 2022-2023 term. And then they weren’t – the final weeks of the term especially featured some high-drama decisions....more
Just before the July 4th holiday, I was wondering out loud what was to be gained by having a Federal District Court decide the merits of a challenge to EPA's eighth attempt to determine the reach of the Clean Water Act. ...more
On May 25, the Supreme Court of the United States significantly narrowed the scope of wetlands protected by the Clean Water Act (CWA or Act). The Court held that only wetlands indistinguishable from Waters of the United...more
In Sackett v. EPA, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a massive blow to EPA's ability to regulate wetlands under the Clean Water Act ("CWA"). Addressing the "nagging question" about the reaches of the CWA, Justice Alito, joined...more
On May 23, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court finally issued its decision in Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which significantly rolls back the scope of wetlands the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and...more
On May 25, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) made its final decision on a long-running case that will redefine the power and authority that the United States Environmental Protection agency (EPA) will have to...more
The United States District Court (E.D. Louisiana) (“Court”) issued a June 12th Order addressing a property owner’s challenge to the United States Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) assertion of Clean Water Act jurisdiction over...more
On May 25, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its long-anticipated decision in Sackett v. EPA, a case involving homeowners who filled private residential property in order to build a home. All nine justices agreed the...more
On May 25, 2023, the Supreme Court published their opinion in a case styled as Sackett II, which again focused on the definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) and the jurisdictional reach the federal government had...more
The United States Supreme Court released in May an opinion in Sackett v. EPA (styled Sackett II), in which the Court unanimously held that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) overstepped its jurisdiction in classifying...more
Last week the Supreme Court of the United States issued its decision in Sackett v. EPA, clarifying what wetlands are subject to federal jurisdiction and regulation under the Clean Water Act (CWA). The Sackett case was brought...more
In a 9-0 ruling published on May 25, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the U.S. EPA’s and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE's) use of the expansive “significant nexus” test to assert authority over adjacent wetlands as...more
The Supreme Court ends protection for most wetlands in the United States... In a sweeping decision, the Supreme Court last week eliminated federal protection for more than half the wetlands in the United States. (Sackett...more
In a long-anticipated decision on the reach of the Clean Water Act (“CWA”), the Supreme Court significantly narrowed the scope of the wetlands and other waters subject to the CWA’s protections. The Court’s opinion in Sackett...more
On May 25, 2023, the Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, which significantly narrowed the Clean Water Act’s (“CWA”) test for determining whether wetlands are protected...more
In a decision that has been anticipated for months, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Sackett v. United States, essentially rewriting jurisprudence established previously in Rapanos v. United States, 547 U.S. 715...more
The Supreme Court, on May 25, 2023, addressed the longstanding issue of how to determine when a wetland is subject to jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act (the “CWA”). In Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, a 5-4...more