The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday put another dent in the regulatory reach of the Environmental Protection Agency, ruling in favor of an Idaho couple in their long-running bid to build a home on property that the EPA had deemed a protected wetland under a landmark federal anti-pollution law.
The justices in a 9-0 decision overturned a lower court's ruling against the couple, Chantell and Mike Sackett, that had upheld the EPA's determination that their property near a lake contained wetlands protected by the Clean Water Act of 1972. Though the justices unanimously agreed to reverse the lower court's decision, they differed in their reasoning for doing so.
But after placing sand and gravel fill on the lot, the EPA issued an administrative compliance order stating the property contained wetlands protected by the Clean Water Act and that they needed a permit to build, which they had failed to obtain. Four justices at that time said the law governed land with a "continuous surface connection" to a waterway while Justice Anthony Kennedy, who cast the deciding vote in the 5-4 case and has since retired, said the law extended further to areas that had a "significant nexus" to a waterway.
"In sum, we hold that the extends to only those wetlands that are 'as a practical matter indistinguishable from waters of the United States,'" Alito wrote, adding: "The wetlands on the Sacketts' property are distinguishable from any possibly covered waters."
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