Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-454_4g15.pdf
Page Number: 19.0

Cite as:  598 U. S. ____ (2023) 

13 

Opinion of the Court 

broadly enough to criminalize mundane activities like mov-
ing  dirt,  this  unchecked  definition  of  “the  waters  of  the 
United States” means that a staggering array of landown-
ers are at risk of criminal prosecution or onerous civil pen-
alties. 

What are landowners to do if they want to build on their 
property?  The EPA recommends asking the Corps for a ju-
risdictional  determination,  which  is  a  written  decision  on 
whether  a  particular  site  contains  covered  waters.  Tr.  of 
Oral  Arg.  86;  see  Corps,  Regulatory  Guidance  Letter  No.
16–01,  at  1  (2016)  (RGL  16–01);  33  CFR  §§320.1(a)(6),
331.2.  But the Corps maintains that it has no obligation to 
provide jurisdictional determinations, RGL 16–01, at 2, and 
it has already begun announcing exceptions to the legal ef-
fect of some previous determinations, see 88 Fed. Reg. 3136. 
Even if the Corps is willing to provide a jurisdictional de-
termination, a property owner may find it necessary to re-
tain an expensive expert consultant who is capable of put-
ting  together  a  presentation  that  stands  a  chance  of 
persuading  the  Corps.12    And  even  then,  a  landowner’s 
chances  of  success  are  low,  as  the  EPA  admits  that  the 
Corps finds jurisdiction approximately 75% of the time.  Tr. 
of Oral Arg. 110. 

If the landowner is among the vast majority who receive
adverse jurisdictional determinations, what then?  It would 
be foolish to go ahead and build since the jurisdictional de-
termination might form evidence of culpability in a prose-
cution  or  civil  action.  The  jurisdictional  determination
could be challenged in court, but only after the delay and 
expense  required  to  exhaust  the  administrative  appeals 

—————— 

12 See 88 Fed. Reg. 3134; Corps, Questions and Answers for Rapanos
and  Carabell  Decision  16  (2007);  J.  Finkle,  Jurisdictional  Determina-
tions: An Important Battlefield in the Clean Water Act Fight, 43 Ecology
L. Q.  301,  314–315  (2016);  K.  Gould,  Drowning  in  Wetlands  Jurisdic-
tional  Determination  Process:  Implementation  of  Rapanos  v.  United 
States, 30 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 413, 440 (2008).