A federal court in Idaho has dismissed a Clean Water Act (CWA) case against an Idaho ranch alleged to have made river and wetlands alterations without a valid permit.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) filed suit against Ace Black Ranches of Bruneau, ID, earlier this year in February. The agency alleged the ranch significantly violated the CWA by discharging fill materials into the nearby Bruneau River and adjacent wetlands, threatening fisheries, neighbors and downstream communities, without obtaining the required CWA dredge-and-fill permit.
In late August, the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho dismissed the case, ruling the agency failed to show that adjacent wetlands on the property have a continuous surface connection to navigable waters. The EPA was given 30 days to file an amended complaint, which had not been filed as of WLJ press time.
“Here, Ace Black Ranches does not dispute that the river is a traditional, navigable water, and is, therefore, considered ‘waters of the United States’ for purposes of the act,” the court wrote.
“Rather, at issue is whether the government successfully alleges that Ace Black Ranches discharged pollutants into wetlands that are indistinguishable from, and have a continuous connection with, the river, satisfying the adjacency test.”
The court cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in Sackett v. EPA in its order, which determined the definition of what is considered a water of the U.S. (WOTUS). The EPA argued that although Sackett v. EPA clarified adjacent wetlands that are WOTUS, “it did not change the pleading standard,” and that EPA alleged sufficient facts to support a CWA violation.
However, the court determined the government’s pleadings were not sufficiently clear and that it must be inferred that adjacent wetlands are at issue.
“Until the government has provided more detailed allegations and information, the complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted and the court must dismiss,” the court wrote.
Background
Ace Black Ranches wanted to improve the efficiency of its irrigation system on the ranch by converting fromtraditional flood irrigation to center-pivot sprinkler irrigation.
“The collection and use of gravel on farms for things like pivot tracks and farm roads are common agricultural practices,” the ranch said earlier this year in response to the lawsuit. “Ace Black Ranches’ lawful agricultural activities do not require a Clean Water Act permit and the EPA has no basis for its claims to the contrary.”
EPA contented the ranch used heavy equipment to clear and level dozens of acres of wetlands to install the system, discharging pollutants on the ranch and neighboring acres of land.
“Ace Black Ranches treated the Bruneau River and state-owned wetlands along the river as private property that could be damaged or destroyed for sand and gravel mining, without any effort to comply with the requirements of the Clean Water Act that protects our nation’s waters from such abuses,” said Assistant Administrator David M. Uhlmann for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance at the time of the complaint’s filing.
The ranch contended there was no continuous surface water connection to the river and the wetlands are indistinguishable from the river, leaving no basis for the EPA’s claim of jurisdiction over the wetlands.
Ace Black Ranches said the EPA’s claims were misguided attempts to expand its reach over agricultural activities.
“Ace Black Ranches is a 150-year-old traditional farm and ranch operation,” the ranch said. “It is not a mining or industrial operation.”— Anna Miller, WLJ managing editor
