环境法律: The Supreme Court’s Hawkes Co. Decision May Help Save Your Project When Wetlands are Present - June 2016
By Jim Lang - June 2016
Wetlands make it hard to build at a property. This is especially significant in Hampton Roads, Virginia, due to the high prevalence of wetlands in this part of the country. 建筑商和美国.S. 陆军工兵部队(陆军部队) do not always agree on the size of the wetlands footprint, with the builder needing the footprint to be small in order for the project to go forward, and the Army Corps claiming the footprint is large, 什么会扼杀一个项目. 直到昨天, in most parts of the nation (including Hampton Roads), 直到整个《皇冠线上买球平台》的许可程序结束并完成，建筑商才能够让法院审查关于湿地足迹大小的两种相互竞争的观点. 这是一个奇怪的结果，因为关于湿地足迹大小的不同观点是在许可过程的早期确定的, when the Army Corps issues its “approved Jurisdictional Determination”, 或“核准JD”. 迫使建筑商等待许可证程序的其余部分(在上法庭之前)需要几年时间，花费20万美元. 那些无法承受不确定性或成本的建筑商通常会放弃这个项目或向陆军投降. 这一切昨天都改变了.S. 最高法院，在这个案子中 U.S. 陆军工兵部队. Hawkes Co., 578 U.S. ___ (2016), ruled that the builder can get immediate Court review once the Army Corps issues the approved JD, and the applicant has availed himself of the administrative appeal afforded at 33 C.F.R. §331.4.
湿地是什么?为什么湿地很重要?
A narrative describing the role played by President Richard Nixon, 还有其他事件, 导致1972年《皇冠线上买球平台》(CWA)的通过超出了本文的范围，但是 可用的其他地方. What is relevant to our purposes here is that the CWA at 33 U.S.C. §1311(a)，在定义中 33 U.S.C. §1362, 要求一个人在将“任何污染物”(从一个点源)排放到“美国水域”之前获得许可。.
The word “wetlands” appears nowhere in the CWA. 水体, however, 典型的是在水体和上面的旱地之间有一个过渡性的湿润地带. Depending on topography, this soggy strip of transitional land can be narrow or quite wide. The “waters of the United States” end only when the upland is reached, 因此，过渡地带的潮湿地带构成了“美国水域”的一部分，并被简称为“湿地”。. There are approximately one million acres of wetlands in Virginia; 25% are tidal wetlands, 剩下的75%是非潮汐的. 几乎所有这250个,000 acres of tidal wetlands are found in and around coastal Virginia, in addition to the non-tidal wetlands also found here.
水上的陆地很抢手. People routinely pay a premium to own (and build on) land on the water. 一个可以显著增加可建筑足迹的常见策略是将泥土和其他“填充”材料放入湿地区域，从而将其从湿地转变为高地. Doing so, however, is illegal unless a permit is obtained, as provided at 33 U.S.C. §1344(a) and as further defined in the implementing regulations promulgated by the U.S. 陆军工兵部队(陆军部队). Testament to the financial upside of filling wetlands, people spend over $1.每年获得湿地许可证. Rapanos v. 美国，547 U.S. 715, 721 (2006). 在没有许可证的情况下填满湿地可以大大增加财产的价值，但只有在风险 刑事起诉 or 民事执行. 例如，当Mr. Rapanos, 没有许可证, backfilled wetlands on a parcel of land in Michigan that he owned and sought to develop, twelve years of criminal and civil litigation ensued. Rapanos v. 美国，547 U.S. 715, 721 (2006). The U.S. 最高法院 Hawkes Co. 该决定再次反映了法院继续承认违反《皇冠线上买球平台》将受到“严重的刑事和民事处罚”.
陆军兵团的新解释扩大了湿地足迹并减少了可建造的足迹
Owners, 弗吉尼亚州沿海地区的开发商和建筑商正因陆军改变对湿地规则的解释方式而感到痛苦, 在很多情况下，陆军告诉人们，他们的可建设土地比预期的要少得多. 2010年末，美国陆军发布了一份文件，说明了美国陆军采用新方法的理由, 将近六年前, 但当时很少有人注意到这一点，因为在2007年至2009年的经济衰退期间，弗吉尼亚沿海地区的建筑活动陷入停滞, 直到现在才再次回升. 扩大湿地面积往往是建筑项目的丧钟，因为它减少了可建筑的足迹.
划定该物业的湿地
Through a process known as “wetlands delineation” a consultant retained by the owner, developer or builder determines if wetlands are present on a site and, if so, 建立他们的界限. The consultant should have strong subject matter and local expertise, such as that possessed by 可儿环保皇冠线上买球平台 在汉普顿路市场. 湿地的划定提交给陆军部队，然后陆军部队进行“确认实地考察”。. 当陆军兵团坚持在顾问确定为非湿地的地区有湿地时，困难就出现了, oftentimes with many hundreds of thousands of dollars, 或者是项目本身的生存, 前途未卜.
联邦法规 33 C.F.R. §328.3(b) 定义“湿地”，但不解释如何确定湿地是否存在于物业内，也不解释如何建立湿地与非湿地区域之间的界限. The procedure for conducting a wetlands delineation is found in the “Corps of Engineers Wetlands Delineation Manual”，于1987年发出(1987划定手册). 随着时间的推移，陆军部队开始相信，地区差异需要调整国家划定手册. 陆军部队 2002年公布了其基本原理 采用地区性修改. 适用于弗吉尼亚沿海地区的调整于2010年11月通过“工程兵团湿地划定手册的区域补充:大西洋和墨西哥湾沿岸平原地区”(区域的补充).
Before an area can qualify as a wetland, the 1987年划定手册 requires the presence of three characteristics: (i) hydrophytic vegetation; (ii) hydric soil; and, (iii)湿地水文学. If one or more characteristic is absent then the area is non-wetland. 然而，根据第5章 区域的补充, 陆军部队现在将一些地区指定为湿地，尽管“没有明显的水生植被迹象”.(《皇冠线上买球平台》第117页). Similarly, the Army Corps relies on Chapter 5 of the 区域的补充 将“似乎没有水文指标”的地区指定为湿地(区域增刊第135页). 其结果是湿地足迹的扩大，这可能使一个有希望的项目变成一个必须放弃的大输家.
立即对已批准的JD进行法院审查
With such large dollars riding on the results of the wetlands delineation, what can be done? 有关条例 33 C.F.R. §331.4 规定“行政上诉”，但将由陆军军团的一名官员决定, 毫无意义, is the agency that generated the wetlands delineation that is in dispute. The possibility of immediate court review would certainly furnish a lifeline for the owner, developer or builder looking to save the project from the Army Corps’ kiss of death. The possibility of immediate court review is, however, 不确定是因为湿地的划定只是许可证发放过程中的一个中转站, a process which can in some cases last several years. 为视角, the “average applicant for an individual permit spends 788 days and $271,596美元来完成这个过程, and the average applicant for a nationwide permit spends 313 days and $28,915 – not counting costs of mitigation or design changes.” Rapanos v. 美国，547 U.S. 715, 721 (2006). As the U.S. 最高法院在 Hawkes Co., the Clean Water Act “permitting process can be arduous, expensive, and long.”
到目前为止，许多法院坚持要求申请人在上法庭之前把申请过程看完. See, e.g., 费尔班克斯北极星区诉. U.S. 陆军工程兵团，543 F.3d 586 (9th Cir. 2008); Belle Co. v. U.S. 陆军工程兵团，761 F.3d 383 (5th Cir. 2014). 换句话说, 尽管关于湿地划定的争议在许可程序的早期就已经完全形成了, 在业主等待788天并花费271美元之后，业主才能让法院对其进行审查,596(就个人许可证而言). 许多业主根本无法承受拖延的代价，也无法承受向法院起诉的成本，因此他们放弃了这个项目，或者大幅缩减项目规模. 然而，其他法院允许立即审查, 哪一个对业主很有用, 开发人员和建设者. See, e.g., Hawkes Co. v. U.S. 陆军工程兵团，782 F.3d 994 (8th Cir. 2015).
2015年12月，美国政府宣布.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal filed by the Army Corps in the Hawkes Co. case and on March 30, 2016 the case was argued in that Court. 法院以…的方式宣布了判决 Hawkes Co. 五月三十一日个案, 2016, 认为业主, 开发商和建筑商可以立即对陆军军团颁发的批准JD进行法院审查, 但申请人已用尽在陆军兵团的行政补救办法，并利用在 33 C.F.R. §331.4.
*An abridged version of this article was published in the inaugural issue of CoVa BIZ magazine
Jim Lang, a Pender & Coward shareholder, focuses his practice on water and environmental law.
Contact him with questions by calling (757) 502-7326 or by sending an email to jlang@ngskmc-eis.net.