ELR Citation: ELR 20155
No(s). 09-5065 (W.D. Wash. Jun 1, 2010)

A district court dismisses a property owner's CWA citizen suit against his neighbor for grading an easement area that contains wetlands. A CWA citizens suit may not be maintained if it only involves past violations of the CWA. Here, there is no evidence of any ongoing violation--either continuous or intermittent--of the CWA. The one and only time the easement was graded was on August 3, 2006—more than a year before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers determined that wetlands were on the easement area—and the neighbor has made it quite clear that she will not do any future grading or other similar work in the easement area without first obtaining a permit. The neighbor, therefore, is entitled to summary judgment dismissing the claim.