Navigating the Clean Water Act

The Supreme Court held in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co. that a determination by the United States Army Corps of Engineers ("Corps") that the owners of land used for peat mining were obliged to apply to the Corps for a permit under the Clean Water Act ("CWA") before dredging or filling the land was a judicially reviewable final agency action. Although this conclusion seems unremarkable, the case potentially packs a more significant punch from the perspective of administrative and, especially, environmental law. Some background on the history of the Court's involvement with the relevant CWA permit program helps to understand why.