Court Decision Gives All Right to Challenge

Mike and Chantell Sackett, and others in their situation, now have the right to challenge rulings made by the Environmental Protection Agency about what is a wetland. The Sacketts have been in a four-year battle with EPA over the government’s claim that the land on which they planned to build a home contains sensitive wetlands. The Supreme Court, earlier this week, said the Sacketts and others have a right to challenge EPA

It has been estimated that EPA annually makes approximately 15-hundred administrative compliance orders to halt what it considers to be environmental damage. Ashley Lyon McDonald, deputy environmental counsel for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, calls the ruling – a win for private property owners – that should serve as a cautionary lesson for EPA officials.

The ruling did not define precisely what constitutes a wetland, a definition that has been muddied by Supreme Court decisions in 2001 and 2006.