Supreme Court Decision On Waters Of The U.S. Reins In Federal Permitting Excesses That Stifle Vital Economic Activity

Decision Forces the Biden Administration to Rethink its Misguided & Unlawful Efforts to Expand the Role of the Federal Government in Local Land Use Decisions

The Associated General Contractors of America’s chief executive officer, Stephen E. Sandherr, issued the following statement in reaction to today’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the Waters of the U.S.:

“The Supreme Court has provided much-needed clarity on what is, and is not, a Water of the U.S. This decision will return consistency and sanity to the permitting process. The decision will allow vital infrastructure and development projects to proceed in a timely manner while still providing strong protections for the actual waters of the U.S. The decision also validates the friend of the court brief we filed in this case and that the court ultimately supported. It also bolsters AGC’s ongoing legal challenges to the Biden administration’s related rule.

“The decision also makes clear that the Biden administration must rewrite its current Waters of the U.S. rule, which relies on the flawed “significant nexus” test that the Court roundly dismissed today. Attempting to redefine nearly every wet area in the U.S. as a federal water is clearly not legal.

“Moving forward, we will continue to challenge the Biden administration’s rule in court and welcome future opportunities to work with the administration to help craft a rule that continues to protect the waters of the U.S. without erecting unnecessary and unlawful barriers to economic activity.”