Abstract
Rapanos v. United States is the latest episode in the serial effort to identify the precise meaning of "waters of the United States." Federal courts have struggled to define the scope of federal regulatory jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act ("CWA") since the law was adopted.
Although no single opinion in Rapanos commanded a majority of the Court, the Court delivered a discernible holding. Specifically, the Court held that CWA jurisdiction over private lands is limited...and reaffirmed that federal regulatory authority only extends to those wetlands that have a "significant nexus" to navigable waters of the United States. Nonetheless, the full implications of Rapanos will not be clear for years to come.
This article offers a preliminary assessment of the Rapanos decision and its implications for water pollution control and wetlands conservation.
This abstract has been adapted from the author's introduction.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Fall 2006
Publication Information
14 Missouri Environmental Law and Policy Review 1-28 (2006)
Repository Citation
Adler, Jonathan H., "Reckoning with Rapanos: Revisiting "Waters of the United States" and the Limits of Federal Wetland Regulation" (2006). Faculty Publications. 2329.
https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/facpubs/2329
Included in
Environmental Law Commons, Natural Resources Law Commons, Supreme Court of the United States Commons, Water Law Commons