Fighting to keep the Feds from regulating deserts under the Clean Water Act

Published on Dec 6, 2012

Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Jennifer Fry visits with Peter and Frankie Smith to discuss their lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. PLF took on the Smith's fight after the Corps designated a dry creek bed or "arroyo" on their property a "water of the United States" subject to federal control. The Smiths caught the Corps' attention when they began to clean up the arroyo by removing dead trees and trash which the prior owner had dumped there. As a result of the Corps' actions, the Smiths cannot continue their maintenance efforts without fear of being prosecuted as "knowing violators" under the Clean Water Act. In 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an expansive definition of "waters of the United States." Nonetheless, the Corps continues to flaunt the law by asserting control over properties, like the Smiths, that are bone dry and do not meet the legal standard for the Corps to assert jurisdiction. PLF's lawsuit asks the court to review the Corps' actions and to affirm that there are meaningful limits to the agency's regulatory power.

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