ELR Citation: 54 ELR 20001
No(s). 21-30163 (5th Cir. Dec 18, 2023)

The Fifth Circuit vacated a district court ruling in a decades-long dispute over whether a property in Louisiana contains federally regulated wetlands. The property owner sued the Army Corps of Engineers, arguing its determination that the property contained federal regulated wetlands was arbitrary and capricious. The owner moved for summary judgment, and the Corps moved for voluntary remand. The district court granted the Corps' motion and dismissed the owner's motion as moot. The appellate court held the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, 53 ELR 20083 (2023), controlled and that the property lacked wetlands with a continuous surface connection to "waters of the United States" in their own right. It remanded with instructions to enter judgment in favor of the property owner that the tracts in question are not "waters of the United States" under Sackett.