Corps' Exemption of Timber Harvest From CWA Held Arbitrary

摘要

The U.S.Army Corps of Engineers' determination that a landowner's harvest of 60 acres of trees from its lake was entitled to an exemption from Clean Water Act permit requirements was arbitrary and capricious,the court declared.Cypress Lake,Inc.owns Cypress Lake,a man-made body of water in Bulloch County,Ga.,created about 60 years ago.In 2006,the Corps determined the landowner's plan to harvest trees,including cypress,water tupelo and black gum,by lowering the lake's water level was exempt from CWA regulation as a "normal silviculture activity."