ELR Citation: 54 ELR 20089
No(s). 2:24-CV-00013-BO (E.D.N.C. Jun 18, 2024) (Boyle, J.)

A district court denied a commercial fisherman's motion to preliminarily enjoin the Army Corps of Engineers and EPA from enforcing a 2023 rule that revised the definition of "waters of the United States." The fisherman argued the agencies did not faithfully implement the Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, 598 U.S. 651 (2023) test for adjacent wetlands because their definition omitted a key element, and moved to enjoin enforcement of the rule against him and his properties. The court found it could not square the fisherman's view of what Sackett required for a wetland to be "adjacent"—that a continuous surface connection is necessary but not sufficient for a wetland to be practically indistinguishable and thus adjacent to a jurisdictional water—with what Sackett actually requires—that the adjacent body of water is "waters of the United States" and that the wetland has a continuous surface connection with that water, making it difficult to determine where the water ends and the wetland begins. Finding that the rule faithfully conformed to the definition of "waters of the United States" as interpreted by Sackett, the court denied the fisherman's motion.