LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- Whether the Trump administration continues to pursue a Clean Water Act case against a Bruneau, Idaho, ranch will not be decided until at least the end of August, as a federal court granted an abeyance to the federal government until Aug. 21, 2025.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho last week granted the Trump administration motion for an additional 90 days to review the case against Ace Black Ranches, considering the administration's revisiting of the waters of the U.S. rule currently in process.
The U.S. Environmental Protect Agency alleged the ranch made several alterations to the Bruneau River and surrounding wetlands as part of a sand and gravel operation on the property. The agency alleged the ranch had been operating without a Clean Water Act dredge-and-fill permit.
An amended complaint shows before-and-after satellite photos purporting to show eight connection points between the Bruneau River and wetlands on the ranch. The EPA alleges there were at least four continuous surface connections between wetlands and the river disrupted by the ranch.
The current development of a new WOTUS rule is focusing on covering only wetlands that have a continuous surface connection, based on the Supreme Court's ruling in Sackett v EPA.
On March 12, 2025, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and EPA issued a new memorandum that provides new field guidance concerning the implementation of the continuous surface connection requirement following the Sackett ruling.
Once the WOTUS stakeholder process is completed at the end of the summer, the federal agencies are required to submit a status report with the court on the Ace Black case.
The national guidance memo written by the Trump administration gives direction on what field officers are to consider when looking at adjacent wetlands.
Based on the Sackett decision, the administration said wetlands must directly abut jurisdictional waters with no clear demarcation between them.
The memo says wetlands that are separated by uplands, berms, dikes or similar features or waters with intermittent or remote hydrologic connections are not jurisdictional.
The Trump administration rescinded previous guidance that allowed "discrete features" including ditches and swales to establish continuous surface connection.
The guidance points to a two-part test from Sackett case to be applied.
An adjacent water must be a traditional WOTUS, and the wetland must have a continuous surface connection, making it hard to distinguish where the water ends and the wetland begins. Temporary interruptions in continuous surface connection are to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, including drought and low tide, for example.
The ranch faces civil penalties of up to $66,712 per day per violation.
The EPA said in the lawsuit that ranch owners initially agreed to join the EPA and the Corps of Engineers on a visit to inspect the ranch on May 18, 2021.
On May 17, 2021, however, the ranch instead filed a complaint and a motion for preliminary injunction in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho to prevent the agencies from entering the ranch.
That court action was dismissed in February 2022, according to the lawsuit. EPA obtained an administrative warrant in May 2021 and inspected the ranch for the first time from June 14 to June 16, 2021. The agency conducted another inspection from April 24 to April 28, 2023.
Read more on DTN:
"Trump Administration Reviews Idaho CWA Case," https://www.dtnpf.com/…
"Idaho Ranch CWA Violations Detailed," https://www.dtnpf.com/…
Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com
Follow him on social platform X @DTNeeley
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