Opinion ID: 536578
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Adjacency

Text: 18 We disagree with the district court's third alternative holding, that this wetland is not adjacent to waters of the United States, as required by 33 C.F.R. Sec. 328.3(a)(7). In reaching this conclusion, the district court again relied on its decision to exclude from consideration any consequences of the backflow through the culverts created by Caltrans and the Fish and Wildlife Service. In the absence of this erroneous holding, the southern portions of the property are adjacent to waters of the United States--the water in the culvert, which is directly connected to the Newark Slough. THE CRYSTALLIZERS AND PITS 19 The Corps determined that the former crystallizers and calcium chloride pits qualified as other waters that were under Corps jurisdiction according to 33 C.F.R. Sec. 328.3(a)(3). That section defines waters of the United States to include: 20 All other waters such as intrastate lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, or natural ponds, the use, degradation or destruction of which could affect interstate or foreign commerce.... 21 The district court held that the crystallizers and pits were not described by this section for two reasons. First, because they are artificial structures and the regulation lists only natural formations. Second, the court concluded that the ponding was too temporary to qualify as other waters. The district court also addressed but did not decide the question of whether the property has a sufficient connection to interstate commerce. A. Artificial vs. Natural Formations 22 The district court applied the doctrine of ejusdem generis 8 to construe the regulations to exclude artificially created waters. The court noted that all the waters listed as other waters in section 328.3(a)(3) were naturally created, and concluded that the artificially created crystallizers and calcium chloride pits could not be covered by that section. The ejusdem generis rule of statutory construction is used to illuminate the intent of the drafters; when the rule conflicts with other, clearer indications of intent, its results should be ignored. See Weyerhaeuser S.S. Co. v. United States, 372 U.S. 597, 601, 83 S.Ct. 926, 928, 10 L.Ed.2d 1 (1963); Black's Law Dictionary, 464 (5th ed. 1979). Reliance on the rule is inappropriate in this case. 23 First, the district court's interpretation conflicts with other parts of the Corps' regulations which assert that the Corps generally has jurisdiction over man-made waters under both the Clean Water Act and the Rivers and Harbors Act. See 33 C.F.R. Secs. 328.5, 329.8. The Corps also defines at least one of the features listed in section 328.3(a)(3) to include artificial waters. See 33 C.F.R. Sec. 323.2(b) (lake includes a standing body of open water created by artificially blocking or restricting the flow of a river, stream or tidal area). In addition, the Corps' comments to the final regulations support the power of the Corps to assert jurisdiction over artificially created waters: 24 [W]e generally do not consider the following waters to be waters of the United States. However, the Corps reserves the right on a case-by-case basis to determine that a particular waterbody within these categories of waters is a water of the United States. 25       26 (c) Artificial lakes or ponds created by excavating and/or diking dry land to collect and retain water and which are used exclusively for such purposes as stock watering, irrigation, settling basins, or rice growing. 27       28 (e) Waterfilled depressions created in dry land incidental to construction activity and pits excavated in dry land for the purpose of obtaining fill, sand or gravel unless and until the construction or excavation operation is abandoned and the resulting body of water meets the definitions of waters of the United States (see 33 C.F.R. 328.3(a)). 29 51 Fed.Reg. 41206, 41217 (1986) (emphasis added). These comments show that the Corps intends to exempt from its jurisdiction only those artificially created waters which are currently being used for commercial purposes, and that even those waters are subject to such jurisdiction on a case-by-case basis of review. The crystallizers and calcium chloride pits have not been used for commercial purposes for decades and so are not subject to even this limited exemption. Finally, courts have uniformly included artificially created waters in the Corps' jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act and the Rivers and Harbors Act. See, e.g., Tull, 769 F.2d 182 (mosquito-control ditch); Stoeco Dev. Ltd. v. Dept. of the Army Corps of Eng'rs, 701 F.Supp. 1075, 1078 (D.N.J.1988) (artificially created wetland), appeal dismissed, 879 F.2d 860 (3rd Cir.1989); United States v. Akers, 651 F.Supp. 320 (E.D.Cal.1987) (same); Track 12, 618 F.Supp. 448 (same); United States v. Ciampitti, 583 F.Supp. 483 (D.N.J.1984) (same), affirmed, 772 F.2d 893 (3rd Cir.1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1014, 106 S.Ct. 1192, 89 L.Ed.2d 307 (1986). We reject the district court's interpretation of the regulations as creating a distinction between artificial and natural waters. B. Temporary Water Formations 30 The district court also held that the crystallizers and calcium chloride pits were not other waters because they are in fact dry most of the year. Due to the climate in the Bay Area, ponding only occurs during the winter rainy season. The seasonal nature of the ponding is no obstacle to Corps jurisdiction however, because the regulations specifically enumerate two seasonal water features as other waters: intermittent streams and playa lakes. See Quivira Mining Co. v. EPA, 765 F.2d 126, 130 (10th Cir.1985), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 1055, 106 S.Ct. 791, 88 L.Ed.2d 769 (1986); United States v. Phelps Dodge Corp., 391 F.Supp. 1181, 1187 (D.Ariz.1975). 31 The Corps' determination that the crystallizers and calcium chloride pits are similarly seasonal bodies of water within the meaning of the regulations is proper. We reverse the district court's contrary conclusion. C. Interstate Commerce 32 The crystallizers and pits must still have sufficient connections to interstate commerce to come under the Corps' jurisdiction as other waters. 33 C.F.R. Sec. 328.3(a)(3). The Corps has adopted the following EPA criteria to determine when waters have sufficient ties to interstate commerce: 33 [Waters] 34 a. Which are or would be used as habitat by birds protected by Migratory Bird Treaties; or 35 b. Which are or would be used as habitat by other migratory birds which cross state lines; or 36 c. Which are or would be used as habitat for endangered species.... 37 51 Fed.Reg. 41206, 41217. The district court failed to determine whether the crystallizers and pits meet these standards. The record showed however, that migratory birds (including many protected by Migratory Bird Treaties) and one endangered species may have used the property as habitat. The commerce clause power, and thus the Clean Water Act, is broad enough to extend the Corps' jurisdiction to local waters which may provide habitat to migratory birds and endangered species. See Utah v. Marsh, 740 F.2d 799, 804 (10th Cir.1984); Palila v. Hawaii Dep't of Land and Natural Resources, 471 F.Supp. 985, 991-95 (D.Haw.1979), aff'd, 639 F.2d 495 (9th Cir.1981). See generally Hughes v. Oklahoma, 441 U.S. 322, 329-36, 99 S.Ct. 1727, 1732-36, 60 L.Ed.2d 250 (1979). We remand this issue to the district court to determine if the property has the requisite connections to interstate commerce.