To the Ends of the Earth: Where Does Navigable Water Begin Under <i>SWANCC</i>?
I. Introduction and Overview
I. Introduction and Overview
Editors' Summary: Environmental professionals continue to consider the implications of the 2006 U.S. Supreme Court landmark decision regarding CWA jurisdiction, Rapanos v. United States. In this Article, Matthew A. Axtell uses Justice William O. Douglas'travel description of Alaska's Last Lake as a hypothetical to test the potential impact of the 2001 SWANCC decision as well as Rapanos on the federal government's CWA authority in Alaska. He begins by analyzing the CWA regulatory regime that applied for many years to Alaskan tundra wetlands before SWANCC and Rapanos.
Editors' Summary: Since the Supreme Court's decision in Rapanos v. United States, courts, practitioners, and scholars have continued to discuss Justice Anthony M. Kennedy's significant nexus test. Under this test, to protect a wetland one must establish that there is a significant nexus between the wetland and a traditional navigable water. In this Article, authors William W. Sapp, Rebekah Robinson, and M. Allison Burdette suggest that the nearer a traditional navigable water is to the wetland, the better the chance of establishing that there is a significant nexus between the two.
The court holds that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to consider adequately the environmental impact of a petroleum pipeline that crosses under a proposed reservoir before issuing a Federal Water Pollution Control Act §404 permit. In issuin...
The court holds that the federal government's reallocation of excess water to a Native American tribe did not constitute a taking of irrigation districts' water rights. A 1984 federal statute directed a permanent annual supply of water to a Native American tribe and apportioned the excess water to a...
The court holds that a company satisfied the requirements for the issuance of a preliminary injunction against a city seeking to enforce two zoning ordinances that impose disposal fees for the storage of radioactive material. The court first holds that the abstention doctrine does not apply. To the ...
The court holds that a district court should have used the lodestar approach in awarding an environmental group attorney fees under Federal Water Pollution Control Act §505. The court first holds that the district court has not made an independent judgment in its award of attorney fees. The distric...
The court holds that a city violated the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) by discharging sludge from its wastewater treatment facility without an operating permit. The court first holds that a state constitutional provision cannot excuse the city's operation of its water treatment facilit...
The court holds that a city is not liable as an arranger under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) for burying discarded barrels and drums at an airport, and cannot be held responsible for the medical monitoring costs of a firefighter exposed to hazardo...
The court upholds five general permits issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authorizing the filling of wetlands for a broad range of development activities in Anchorage, Alaska. The court first holds that the Corps satisfied the requirement that the permitted activities are "similar in environ...