ELR Citation: 51 ELR 20159
No(s). 19-35469 (9th Cir. Aug 16, 2021)

The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for EPA in a challenge to a compliance order stating that landowners' property in Idaho contained wetlands subject to CWA protection and directing them to remove fill and restore the property to its natural state. The appellate court concluded that EPA reasonably determined the property contained wetlands. It further found the record supported the Agency's conclusion that the wetlands were adjacent to a jurisdictional tributary and that, together with a similarly situated wetlands complex, they had a "significant nexus" to a lake, a traditional navigable water, such that the property was regulable under the CWA and relevant regulations. It therefore affirmed summary judgment for the Agency.