Borden Ranch Partnership v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
261 F.3d 810 (9th Cir. 2001)
Angelo Tsakopoulos (plaintiff) wanted to convert wetland areas of his 8,400-acre ranch into vineyards and orchards, which required deep ripping — tearing up a restrictive soil layer with long metal prongs dragged behind heavy machinery — to allow deep root systems. The Army Corps of Engineers and EPA (defendants) tried to limit the practice through cease-and-desist orders and other administrative actions, relying on the Clean Water Act's ban on discharging pollutants into the nation's waters. Tsakopoulos sued, arguing deep ripping wasn't a "discharge" and, alternatively, fell under the Act's normal-farming exception; the district court ruled for the government, and Tsakopoulos appealed.
Whether ripping up soil in a wetland and depositing it back into the same wetland can constitute a discharge of pollutants regulable under the Clean Water Act.