Rapanos v. United States
United States Supreme Court
547 U.S. 715 (2006)
Relevant factsFree
Rapanos (defendant) backfilled about 54 acres of his Michigan property, located roughly 20 miles from the nearest body of water and only intermittently saturated with rainwater, without obtaining an Army Corps of Engineers permit; he was charged with violating the Clean Water Act, and the district court and court of appeals both held his land qualified as "waters of the United States" requiring a permit.
IssueFree
Whether the Clean Water Act's "waters of the United States" includes only relatively permanent, standing, or flowing bodies of water, such as streams, oceans, rivers, and similar geographic waterways.