Number: RL33263
Title: The Wetlands Coverage of the Clean Water Act is Revisited by the Supreme Court:: Rapanos v. United States
Authors: Robert Meltz, Legislative Attorney; Claudia Copeland, Specialist in Resources and Environmental Policy 
Abstract: In 1985 and 2001, the Supreme Court grappled with issues as to the geographic scope of the wetlands permitting program in the federal Clean Water Act (CWA). In 2006, the Supreme Court rendered a third decision, Rapanos v. United States, on appeal from two Sixth Circuit rulings. The Sixth Circuit rulings offered the Court a chance to clarify the reach of CWA jurisdiction over wetlands adjacent only to nonnavigable tributaries of traditional navigable waters - including tributaries such as drainage ditches and canals that may flow intermittently. (Jurisdiction over wetlands adjacent to traditional navigable waters was established in one of the two earlier decisions.)
Pages: 18
Date: January 9, 2009