Posted December 15, 2015
The U.S.
Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether property owners can challenge the
federal government in court, according to a Capital Press article available here.
Reuters also published an article available here.
So far,
three federal appeals courts have been unable to agree on this question.
Attempts
by landowners to contest “jurisdictional determinations” have been rejected by
the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which oversees nine Western states, and
the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which oversees three Southern states.
However,
the 8th Circuit Court, which has jurisdiction over seven Midwestern states,
arrived at the opposite conclusion.
In a
ruling earlier this year, the court held that landowners can ask federal judges
to reverse such determinations, which carry the heavy regulatory burdens of
complying with the Clean Water Act (CWA).
The court
will soon hear an appeal brought by the Obama administration, which is contesting
a lower court ruling that said Hawkes Co Inc could file a lawsuit over whether
it needs a permit to open a peat mine in Minnesota, according to Reuters.
The new
case addresses the separate question of when property owners can contest a
finding by the federal government that a property falls under Clean Water Act
jurisdiction.
Once the
government determines that a property is covered by the law, property owners
can either proceed through the permitting process, go ahead without a permit
and face possible fines of $37,500 a day, or abandon their plan to develop the
land.
Property
rights advocates have said the permitting process can take two years and cost
up to $270,000.
The
Supreme Court will hear arguments in the new case next spring with a ruling due
by the end of June.
For more information on the Clean Water Act, please visit
the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
