United States Fourth Circuit

Defendant, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, complied with section 404(e) of the Clean Water Act in issuing a general permit for the discharge of dredged or fill material into U.S. waters, which allows projects to proceed only after receiving individualized authorization from defendant; thus, the district court's findings to the contrary are vacated.

Appellate Information

• Decided 11/23/2005
• Published 11/28/2005

Judges

• Before NIEMEYER and LUTTIG, Circuit Judges, and ROBERT J. CONRAD, Jr., United States District Judge for the Western District of North Carolina, sitting by designation.

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• ARGUED:  Elizabeth Ann Kessler, United States Department of Justice, Environment & Natural Resources Division, Washington, D.C.;   Michael Randolph Shebelskie, Hunton & Williams, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellants.  James Millard Hecker, Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, Washington, D.C., for Appellees.   ON BRIEF:  Earl H. Stockdale, Chief, Lance D. Wood, Russell W. Petit, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, D.C.;  Ann R. Klee, General, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C.;  Sue Ellen Wooldridge, Solicitor, United States Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.;  Thomas L. Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General, Jeffrey Bossert Clark, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Mary B. Neumayr, Timothy Racicot, John A. Bryson, Steve Rusak, John T. Stahr, United States Department of Justice, Environment & Natural Resources Division, Washington, D.C., for Appellants William Bulen, District Engineer, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntington District, and Robert B. Flowers, Lieutenant General, Chief of Engineers and Commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.   Robert G. McLusky, Blair M. Gardner, Lindsey K. Griffith, Jackson Kelly, P.L.L.C., Charleston, West Virginia;  William H. Wright, Jr., Hunton & Williams, L.L.P., Richmond, Virginia;  Harold P. Quinn, Jr., National Mining Association, Washington, D.C., for Appellants West Virginia Coal Association, Kentucky Coal Association, Ohio Coal Association, Coal Operations and Associates, Incorporated, National Mining Association, Green Valley Coal Company.  Joseph M. Lovett, Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment, Lewisburg, West Virginia, for Appellees.