You don't need a law degree to know that when the federal government loses a case at the U.S. Supreme Court, it's supposed to follow the ruling. But the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—three-time losers in Clean Water Act (CWA) cases—seem to think those rulings don't apply to them. Now, landowners in Bonner County, Idaho, are paying the price for that defiance.
The Army Corps district engineer is attempting, through a convoluted workaround, to assert federal CWA authority over an isolated alleged wetland on Rebecca and Caleb Linck's property, which flagrantly disregards the 2023 landmark ruling in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, involving other Bonner County residents.
The Lincks own a 4.7-acre parcel in Kootenai, Idaho. The land has been in Caleb Linck's family for over four decades. The Lincks want to live quietly on their property and, one day, use the land for agricultural purposes. Their lot is about one mile from a stream and roughly two miles from a lake and contains no land features subject to federal regulation.
