Engineering News-Record (by Pam McFarland & Mary B. Powers)
October 3, 2022
The nation's high court opened its 2022 session on Oct. 3 with oral arguments in Sackett v. EPA, a major wetlands case taking yet another look at what the language of the federal Clean Water Act says about methods and tests used to determine when property owners need a federal permit to build on a site containing federally protected waters.
Although the question presented to the nation’s top court was narrow: whether the U.S. Appeals Court in San Francisco used the correct “test” to determine that portions of an Idaho property owned by Chantell and Michael Sackett constitute federally protected wetlands, the questions asked by justices suggest they may seek to make a broader ruling. . . .