United States Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co., Inc.

Peat-mining companies (plaintiffs) sought a Clean Water Act permit and requested a jurisdictional determination from the Army Corps (defendant) about whether their 530-acre parcel contained federally regulated waters; the Corps issued an approved JD finding waters present due to a hydrological nexus to a river 120 miles away, a determination binding on both the Corps and EPA for five years under an interagency memorandum, and the companies sought judicial review after their administrative appeal was denied, though the district court found the JD not a final reviewable action before the Eighth Circuit reversed.