Landowners Rights Upheld in Challenging WOTUS Jurisdiction

Farm groups call it a win for farmers and ranchers over the Environmental Protection Agency’s Waters of the U.S. jurisdiction as the Supreme Court says landowners may challenge the Army Corps of Engineers findings that a property contains a jurisdictional water. This ruling comes in a Clean Water Act case by three peat mining firms against the government’s claim that farms needed a permit before challenging a WOTUS determination.
The high court says, with all justices agreeing, that landowners are not helpless when the Army Corps and the EPA declare a “Water of the U.S.” is on a landowner's property. National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Colin Woodall says.
Woodall: “It allows producers to sue the EPA earlier on in the process. In the past you had to go through the entire process of getting a permit which could be extremely expensive and time consuming before you could actually move forward with a lawsuit against that determination.”
Woodall says the latest ruling could have some bearing on the WOTUS case pending against the EPA and Army Corps in lower federal courts that have put a hold on the controversial rule.
Woodall: “It will eventually work its way in the overall consideration in our Waters of the US lawsuit. This is definitely a promising decision. The fact that it was an unanimous decision means that the Court is truly looking at where the EPA’s jurisdiction really stands. That is ultimately the base of our case.”