Supreme Court takes EPA case that could narrow Clean Water Act – The Washington Post
The Supreme Court will take up a challenge to the Clean Water Act that could narrow the law s reach in ways long sought by businesses and home builders.
The justices said Monday that they will consider, probably in the term beginning in October, a long-running dispute involving an Idaho couple who already won once at the Supreme Court in an effort to build a home near Priest Lake. The Environmental Protection Agency says there are wetlands on the couple s roughly half-acre lot, which brings it under the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act, and thus requires a permit.
Priest Lake is really an exquisite place, northwest of Lake Coeur D’Alene in North Idaho. I would love to have a house there, and even live there, except, and this is the deal breaker for me, they don’t get enough sun. I need the sun, or else, like one of my poor little plant-babies, I fear I will wither and die. I don’t know the details of this case, but I betcha there are no navigable waters on this couple’s lot, no “waters of the U.S.” — I mean, come on, man. Probably there’s a sometimes damp spot. And so the EPA rushes in. Those durn regulaters. Let my people build.