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Saturday, July 31, 2004
Environment - Wetlands: Rapanos litigation continues
In U.S. v. Rapanos (7/26/04), a panel of the 6th Circuit last week affirmed the district court's findings and conclusions that:
Rapanos had filled 22 of 28 acres of protected wetlands at the Salzburg site, 17 of 64 acres of protected wetlands at the Hines Road site, and 15 of 49 acres of protected wetlands at the Pine River site. The district court concluded that the government had established that 54 of the filled acres fit the three parameters for wetlands, i.e., vegetation, soils, and hydrology. In addition, the court found that the United States did not meet its burden regarding the existence of wetlands at the Freeland and Mapleton sites. The district court entered these findings and conclusions on March 22, 2000.If "Rapanos" sounds familiar, it is because the U.S. Supreme Court in April denied three wetlands appeals, including Rapanos v. United States. See the Indiana Law Blog write-ups here and here. The latter entry quotes Linda Greenhouse of the NY Times stating: "John A. Rapanos, a Michigan landowner who acted without a permit to fill wetlands that were 20 miles from a navigable river, was criminally convicted and now faces a 10-month prison sentence."
That was the criminal proceeding. As explained in the 6th Circuit opinion, "Criminal charges were brought simultaneously with the instant civil action." I discovered in reading this week's opinion that counsel for appellants was: "David E. Dearing, Indianapolis, Indiana." We practiced at the same firm in the 90s. I gave David a call and learned that he is litigating several other significant wetlands cases.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 31, 2004 07:39 PM
Posted to Environmental Issues