U.S. District Court Clarification of Clean Water Act is a Win for Wetlands

In a key win for wetlands protection, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia ruled that a logging company broke the law when it built a road and filled in wetlands without acquiring a proper permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers under the Clean Water Act. Conservationists hailed the ruling, and urged other timber companies to seek permits before building roads or filling wetlands to make way for new development.

“The U.S. District Court’s clarification of the Clean Water Act will help deter common abuses of exemptions to wetlands protections,” said Catherine Wannamaker, an attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center which represented the Ogeechee-Canoochee Riverkeeper® in the case.