News Release
| Release Number: | 01-008 |
| Dated: | 1/31/2001 |
| Contact: | Heidi Y. Helwig, 503-808-4510 |
Portland, Ore.--What impact will a recent U.S. Supreme Court lawsuit ruling have on the regulation of wetlands in Oregon? To help answer this question, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Portland District is hosting a meeting at 1 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 2 in room 3A of the Robert Duncan Plaza at 333 S.W. First Ave., in downtown Portland.
Section 404 of the Clean Water Act requires that anyone interested in depositing dredged or fill material into "waters of the United States, including wetlands," must receive authorization (a permit) from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to do so.
The Supreme Court’s Jan. 9 decision is a result of the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lawsuit in which SWANCC contested the Corps’ denial of a permit to place fill in an abandoned gravel mine in northern Illinois. Though the gravel mine was categorized as a Category 3 water of the U.S.—a legal term for any intrastate lake, river, stream, pond or wetland in which its use or degradation could affect commerce—the only apparent commerce connection was its use as a migratory bird habitat.
SWANCC argued that if the Corps made its decision solely on the fact that the pond was home to migratory birds—thus bringing birdwatchers to the area—then the Corps overstepped its Congressional authority to protect wetlands; the Supreme Court agreed.
The connection between migratory bird habitat and commerce was made in the 1980s when the question came up about how to protect wetlands with no commerce connection but that were important to migratory birds, said Lawrence Evans, chief of the Corps’ Regulatory Branch in Portland. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Corps agreed that migratory birds could be a link to commerce since they bring sportsmen and birdwatchers to the area. Therefore, the Corps designated bodies of water that are important to migratory birds as Category 3 waters of the U.S. and has regulated them accordingly.
In addition to intrastate waters that are important to intrastate or foreign commerce, other waters of the U.S. that the Corps regulates include tidal bodies; interstate waters, including wetlands; ponds and lakes; tributaries; territorial seas; and wetlands that are adjacent to bodies of water.