Tag Archives: Waters of the United States

United States Corp of Engineers vs. Hawkes Supreme Court Case

As you likely know, the EPA is attempting to gain permission to implement the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule. This rule, which is an extension of the Clean Water Act, would put virtually all water in the United States under the control of the federal government. That means the federal government can come onto your property and tell you what you can do or cannot do with your pond, your stream, your ditch that occasionally holds water, or your wetland  that just happens to contain peat which you sell to provide money to care for your family.

Worse yet, if the EPA or the Army Corp of Engineers come onto your property and makes a decision to take control of your property(that is called a jurisdictional determination, and the Army Corp makes 54,000 of them a year!), up until now the property owner had no recourse.

Fortunately for all of us, when the Army Corp of Engineers made a jurisdictional determination on the Minnesota peat bog owned by Kevin Pierce of the Hawkes Co., Inc., Pierce was unwilling to roll over and give up control of his property without a fight. To learn more about this important court case and the resulting Supreme Court Case victory, please read the short article and two short video by clicking on this link.

 

Court Blocks EPA’s Water Rule

The EPA is pushing a new rule called the Waters of the United States which would expand the definition of a navigable water to include almost any water feature on a property including ditches that are dry the vast majority of the year. If this rule goes into effect the federal government has in effect nationalized/taken control of all water in the United State (and in many cases the land that borders the water).

These waters are usually under the jurisdiction of the states. No surprise that various groupings of states challenged the EPA in court. The first of the articles on this subject discusses the only lawsuit that successfully put a stop to the implementation of the rule, at least until further studies are conducted. To read more about which group of states was successful, click on this link.

The second article discusses whether the states that were unsuccessful in their challenge of the Waters of the United States rule, will be protected from, or obligated to abide by, the rule. To learn more click on this link.

 

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