Local builders are watching to see whether the U.S. Supreme Court will change their requirements for obtaining clean water permits, making the process more costly and cumbersome.
The court is scheduled to hear oral arguments for National Association of Home Builders v. Defenders of Wildlife on Tuesday, April 17. The case revolves around a conflict between the execution of the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, one that would affect developers in the D.C. region as much as any builders nationally, according to F. Hamer Campbell Jr., director of government affairs for the Maryland National Capital Building Industry Association.
Currently, 44 states administer clean water permits, instead of the Environmental Protection Agency doing so. When Arizona attempted to gain this power, the Defenders of Wildlife sued, saying states must ensure the permits do not conflict with the Endangered Species Act. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed.
The D.C.-based National Association Home Builders is invested in the issue because a decision against them would mean all developers pursuing clean water permits would also have to undergo an endangered species consultation before obtaining a permit. Permitting requirements are already strict for local developers building in watershed areas, such as the Chesapeake Bay, and the Potomac and Patuxent rivers, Campbell said.
“Allowing federal agencies to bypass this crucial step could spell disaster for threatened and endangered species,” Defenders of Wildlife spokesman Joe Vickless said in a statement Tuesday.
A consultation for just one protected species can take between five and 18 months to complete and cost between $1.7 million and $2.7 million, NAHB spokeswoman Calli Barker Schmidt said. The costs could transfer to the price of homes, according to NAHB.
Clean water permits are required for just about any construction site in the country, NAHB Staff Vice President for Legal Affairs Duane Desiderio. If the court rules against NAHB, developments on dry land would go under the same kind of endangered species scrutiny as those near bodies of water when obtaining a permit.
