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U.S. Supreme Court limits federal control of ponds, mudflats

The Supreme Court held the federal government does not have the power to stop a proposed landfill atop seasonal ponds used by migrating birds

From staff and wire reports

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the Clean Water Act does not give the federal government the authority to regulate isolated ponds used by migrating birds.

The 5-4 ruling, written by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was wrong to try to block a group of Chicago-area communities from building a landfill on an abandoned strip mine. Gravel pits on the 533-acre site are now fill with water, forming seasonal ponds used by birds.

Congress did not intend the Clean Water Act to cover such small bodies of water, Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote for the majority. A 1986 refinement of the environmental law that deals specifically with the needs of migratory birds does not give the federal government such control, he added.

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"Permitting the (government) to claim federal jurisdiction over ponds and mudflats," such as those in the Illinois case, "would also result in a significant impingement of the states' traditional and primary power over land and water use," Rehnquist wrote.

Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day O'Connor joined Rehquist's opinion. Justices David H. Souter, Stephen J. Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Paul Stevens dissented.

"Today the court takes an unfortunate step that needlessly weakens our principal safeguard against toxic water," Stevens wrote for the minority.

He said the protection of migratory birds has been a well-established federal responsibility

The Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County, a consortium of 23 municipalities, decided to build the landfill in the 1980s and spent about $31 million on state and local permits before the Corps of Engineers rejected its request for a permit.

The Corps of Engineers argued that the Interstate Commerce Clause gave it the authority over wetland bird habitats because people spend an estimated $1 billion a year on hunting and bird watching, and often travel to other states.

Rehnquist wrote that the government's arguments that the "commerce clause" gives it control over the Illinois wetlands, "raise significant constitutional questions, yet there is nothing approaching a clear statement from Congress that it intended," the Clean Water Act to be read that way,

For the last five years, the 5-4 majority has ruled that the commerce clause does not apply to non-economic activity inside a state's borders.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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