January 13, 2005

            LANSING -- Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox announced today he has filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the United States Supreme Court in an effort to preserve long-standing protections provided to Michigan waters by the federal Clean Water Act.

            "Michigan's water resources, especially the Great Lakes, are Michigan's greatest treasure," Cox said.  "Everyone must join together to protect them."

            Cox has joined 34 other states and the District of Columbia arguing for continuing protection under the Clean Water Act for the nation's water resources, including wetlands and waterways.  Cox's brief supports the federal government's arguments that Congress intended the Clean Water Act to cover wetlands adjacent to tributaries.

            "Michigan is the Great Lakes State," Cox said.  "But those lakes will only stay great if we protect the rivers, streams, and wetlands that flow into them."

            Two cases scheduled to be heard by the Supreme Court February 21, 2006, will address whether the Clean Water Act protects wetlands adjacent to tributaries that flow into larger water bodies and adjacent wetlands, and, if so, whether the Constitution gives Congress the authority to protect them.[1] 

            "I am simply asking the Supreme Court to uphold the status quo and continue the long-standing and common sense interpretation of the Clean Water Act," Cox said.

            The cases involve Michigan wetlands.  In the Rapanos case, the developer began filling in 54 acres of wetlands without a state or federal permit on three sites in Midland, Bay, and Saginaw Counties.  The wetlands are connected to tributaries that flow into Lake Huron.  Both criminal and civil actions were pursued by the federal government.  Mr. Rapanos was convicted of criminal violations of the Clean Water Act.  The case before the Supreme Court involves the civil enforcement action brought by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

            In the Carabell case, the developer wanted to build a 112 unit condominium on 19 acres of land in Macomb County by filling in about 15 acres of forested wetlands.  The wetlands are adjacent to a tributary that flows to Lake St. Clair.  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied the permit.  The developer brought suit alleging the wetlands were not covered by the Clean Water Act.  

            Protection of the Great Lakes is one of Attorney General Cox's top priorities.  In addition to these cases, last year Cox joined other Attorneys General from the Great Lakes region and intervened in a suit seeking to compel the federal government to regulate ballast water discharges that introduce aquatic or invasive nuisance species into the Great Lakes from oceangoing vessels.

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