Opinion | They fought the EPA for 16 years — then received Supreme Court vindication

That’s right. The Sacketts, an Idaho couple who simply wanted to build a house near a lake, had to spend 16 years, 15 of them in the federal courts, trying to get the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers to leave them alone.

Headlines about the court’s ruling have focused on a narrower 5-4 decision rejecting the EPA’s expansive vision of its regulatory domain. In that decision, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote for the majority. Three other opinions, signed onto by various combinations of justices, were also issued.

Supreme Court weakens EPA power to enforce Clean Water Act

But the key aspect of this case, in my mind, is that two American citizens held hostage by bureaucratic arrogance were at long last vindicated by a unanimous Supreme Court.

Would that Alito had begun his opinion: “To the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Just stop. Right now. Just stop and leave these citizens alone. And leave all similarly situated citizens alone. You should be deeply ashamed of your excess here, of your breach of faith with the rule of law.”

The court doesn’t use such language, of course, but occasionally it ought to. The two agencies involved had no business claiming the right to threaten the Sacketts with criminal prosecution for violating the 1972 Clean Water Act if they built their house. The regulators, in a ridiculous interpretation of what constitutes a wetland and how it could be connected to navigable waters, dug in their heels and would not bow to common sense. Now, common sense has finally prevailed.

If the EPA and Army Corps are unhappy to find their view of the reach of the Clean Water Act repudiated, they brought it on themselves. In the private sector, people would be fired for such bungling. But this is the U.S. government, where firing is rare and pay raises are automatic. Bureaucrats are going to bureaucrat.

I keep thinking of what the Sacketts have gone through. They wanted to build a home near Priest Lake in the Selkirk Mountains of northern Idaho, about 30 miles from the U.S.-Canadian border. The lake is actually two lakes — the lower one the main body, 19 miles long and about 300 feet deep — fed by mountain streams.

In other words, this is a gorgeous setting. If the Sacketts were denied it for 16 years, what does that come to in soul-nourishing “lake years”? Maybe 160?

Now consider that the site where the Sacketts proposed to build was not nearly as close to the lake as some other houses that sat between their lot and the water. Also: The property was separated from the lakeside by a graveled road. But the EPA and the Army Corps would not give up their absurd initial ruling, which involved decreeing a wetland where none existed — and then claiming a violation because a nearby roadside ditch connected to a creek that connected to the lake.

After the Sacketts purchased the property in 2004, their legal saga began three years later, when, as Alito wrote, “in preparation for building a modest home, they began backfilling their property with dirt and rocks.” Within months, he noted, the couple was ordered by the EPA to “restore” the site because it included “protected wetlands.” The agency threatened penalties of about $40,000 per day for not complying.

Guest Opinion: The Supreme Court just gutted the Clean Water Act. It could be devastating.

Assisted by the Pacific Legal Foundation, the Sacketts fought back in the courts for 15 years. The Supreme Court does not note how many hours it took for the Sacketts and the PLF to wage the battle, or the expense to the foundation of fighting the good fight. The cost to the Sacketts in peace of mind, denied the right to enjoy a vacation home as they grew old, is incalculable.

Indeed, the bulk of the discussion in the court’s decision was devoted to unraveling various sentences and clauses of the original Clean Water Act and its amendments over the years. That obscures the human toll imposed by bureaucrats on countless thousands of Americans who, hoping to improve their lives a bit, find themselves abused by overzealous regulators.

It is a shame that Michael and Chantell Sackett had to spend so many years fighting the federal government before a court finally came to their aid. When a Republican returns to the White House, put their names down for a Medal of Freedom. The Sacketts deserve one.