U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Wetlands Case Brought in Dispute Over Alaska Permafrost

摘要

The U.S. Supreme Court refused June 22 to review a Clean Water Act lawsuit brought by a local government in Alaska over whether permafrost on the site of a planned athletic field precluded it from being considered a regulated wetland (Fairbanks North Star Borough v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S., No. 08-1052, 6/22/09).rnThe denial of review leaves intact a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which declined to review a preliminary U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ruling that the site of a planned playground and athletic field in Fairbanks contains wetlands protected by the Clean Water Act (Fairbanks North Star Borough v. Army Corps of Engineers, 543 F.3d 586, 67 ERC 2123 (9th Cir. 2008); 39 ER 1882, 9/19/08).