Decision a win for landowners

In a victory for private property owners, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the “significant nexus” test in its Sackett v EPA ruling.

The ruling changes how “waters of the United States” can be applied by leaving wetlands that are not directly flowing into “rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water that flow across or form a part of State boundaries” out of consideration as WOTUS.

The “significant nexus” test was established in Rapanos v United States. The “significant nexus” test defined “waters of the United States” in broader terms: “… waters that, either alone or in combination with similarly...