The court holds that farmers may dredge and clean a ditch as necessary to farm their land as they did before the Swampbuster provision of the Food Security Act became effective. Before Swampbuster became effective, the farmers dredged and cleaned the ditch and used the drained land as a hay and cow ...

The court holds that a county's sewage treatment plant violated Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) §301(a) by discharging heat into a stream located near environmental group members' homes. The court first holds that according to the plant's monitoring reports, the plant's effluent exceede...

The court holds that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) preempts a farmer's state-law claims against a herbicide manufacturer. The farmer sought damages based on the herbicide's failure to perform as advertised, his detrimental reliance on the herbicide's label, and the ...

The court holds that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' denial of a property owner's permit application to dredge and fill wetlands on his property in the Florida keys was not a taking. The court first holds that the U.S. Supreme Court did not hold in Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, 505 U.S....

The court holds that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has jurisdiction under the Migratory Bird Rule to require a consortium of municipalities to obtain a Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) §404 permit before filling ponds and lakes on a proposed landfill site. The court first holds that t...

The court holds that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) preempts an employee's state-law claims against her employer regarding the labeling of pesticides, but FIFRA does not preempt state-law claims regarding the packaging of the pesticides. The employee alleged that she...

The court holds that a district court erroneously dismissed an indictment charging an individual for knowingly disposing of domestic septage on a public contact site in violation of the Clean Water Act (CWA). The individual allegedly pumped sewage material from a septic tank located at a bar and the...

The court holds that the equitable doctrine of laches bars a community group's Administrative Procedure Act and Clean Water Act (CWA) claims seeking to prevent the permitted filling of a wetland and, hence, to stop further development of a neighboring industrial park. After their attempt to stop the...

The court holds that summary judgment was improvidently granted in favor of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in a suit brought by property owners who claimed that the Corps' refusal to grant the owners a Clean Water Act (CWA) §404 dredge and fill permit for 50 acres of submerged lands constituted a...

The court holds that developers' sidecasting of dredged spoil in a jurisdictional wetland constitutes the discharge of a pollutant under the Clean Water Act (CWA). The court first holds that the deposit of dredged or excavated material from a wetland back into the same wetland constitutes the discha...