United States Ninth Circuit

In a citizen suit brought under the Clean Water Act (CWA) alleging defendant-salt maker discharged pollutants into "waters of the United States" without a permit, summary judgment for plaintiffs is reversed where: 1) mere adjacency to a protected water provides a basis for CWA coverage only when the relevant waterbody is a "wetland"; and 2) no other reason for CWA coverage of defendant's "pond" was supported by evidence or was properly before the circuit court.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/08/2007
• Published 03/08/2007

Judges

• CANBY, Circuit Judge., Before CANBY, HAWKINS, and GOULD, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Gregory T. Broderick, Pacific Legal Foundation, Sacramento, CA;  Scott M. DuBoff, Wright & Talisman, PC, Washington, D.C.;  Virginia S. Albrecht, Hunton & Williams, LLP, Washington, D.C.;  James Murphy, National Wildlife Federation, Montpelier, VT;  Katherine J. Barton, United States Department of Justice, Environment & Natural Resources Division, Washington, D.C., for the amici curiae.


• For Appellees:
  
• John F. Barg, Barg, Coffin, Lewis & Trapp, LLP, San Francisco, CA;  Sandi L. Nichols, Stoel Rives LLP, San Francisco, CA, for the defendants-appellants-cross-appellees., Daniel Purcell, Keker & Van Nest, LLP, San Francisco, CA, for the plaintiffs-appellees-cross-appellants.