Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. Army Corps of Engineers

Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 531 U.S. 159 (2001), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States interpreting a provision of the Clean Water Act. Section 404, 33 U.S.C. § 1344, requires permits for the discharge of dredged or fill materials into ""navigable waters,"" which is defined by the Act as ""waters of the United States."" This provision was the basis for the federal wetlands permitting program.The Court held that the Corps of Engineers' use of the long controversial ""migratory bird rule,"" adopted by the Corps and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to interpret the reach of their section 404 authority over discharges into ""isolated waters"" (including isolated wetlands), exceeded the authority granted by that section.Long before the SWANCC case, there had been controversy and litigation over whether isolated waters that are not adjacent to true navigable waters are properly within the jurisdiction of section 404. In 1985, the Supreme Court sustained the assertion by the Corps and EPA that waters and wetlands adjacent to navigable waters, interstate waters, or their tributaries are ""waters of the United States"" under section 404. The question left for SWANCC was whether waters and wetlands not so adjacent - ""isolated waters"" - also are so covered.