Environmental Law Chair Jeff Porter spoke with Inside EPA about a 5th Circuit Court of Appeals holding that the Supreme Court’s Sackett decision compels the conclusion that a property is outside Federal Clean Water Act jurisdiction. Porter noted that the 5th Circuit’s opinion doesn’t even mention EPA’s post-Sackett regulation on the topic, providing further evidence that the era of judicial deference to EPA is coming to an end. 

“What does this all mean? Well, I think it means we’re going to continue to see some Judges applying the Supreme Court’s Sackett holding to determine the extent of Clean Water Act jurisdiction, ignoring EPA’s and the Corps’ subsequent regulation, unless and until Congress decides to get involved in the longest running controversy in environmental law,” Porter concluded.

Source

Inside EPA