Rapanos v. United States: Searching for a Significant Nexus Using Proximate Causation and Foreseeability Principles (Excerpt: Part I)

The following excerpt comes from the Rapanos v. United States: Searching for a Significant Nexus Using Proximate Causation and Foreseeability Principles article published in the December 2010 issue of the Environmental Law Reporter News & Analysis. Due to space restrictions, the Newsletter will run two extended excerpts. The first part, published in this issue, looks at applying the principles of proximate causation and foreseeability to Justice Kennedy’s significant nexus test to help clarify jurisdictional waters under the 2006 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Rapanos v. United States. The second part, to run in the March/April 2011 issue of the Newsletter, will look at proximate causation and the Rapanos guidance issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.