Source: Lisa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE, 6/6/16


A unanimous ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court could bolster ag groups’ legal challenges to the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule, the National Pork Producers Council pointed out in a statement.

The High Court last week said that private landowners can challenge in court decisions made by the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers that determine what acreage qualifies as wetlands. The decision is related to a case in which three Minnesota peat mining companies challenged a Corp of Engineers determination of wetlands on some of the companies’ land, on the basis that the land in question was more than 100 miles from the nearest navigable water.

The Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have jurisdiction over navigable waters and waters with a hydrologic connection to navigable waters under the Clean Water Act (CWA).

The Army Corps had argued that the determination was not subject to immediate legal challenge; the Supreme Court disagreed.

Last week’s decision could play a role in the legal challenges to the WOTUS rule, of which there are several; the rule’s implementation has been stayed by a federal court ruling since last fall. WOTUS “expands the reach of the agencies under the CWA to include, among other water bodies, upstream waters and intermittent and ephemeral streams such as the kind farmers use for drainage and irrigation,” NPPC explains.

NPPC and other ag interests believe the rule overreaches the federal jurisdiction, and that there are technical problems with the process through which the rule was written. NPPC is urging federal legislators and the administration to withdraw the current rule and rewrite it.

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