By Lawrence Hurley – Greenwire/NY Times – September 19, 2011

Sitting unobtrusively across the road from a pristine lake in the northern Idaho panhandle, the half-acre lot covered with weeds and piles of gravel isn't much to look at. And yet, in a few months' time, the nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court will decide its fate. For four years the land has sat idle while its owners, Mike and Chantell Sackett, have been locked in a fight with U.S. EPA. What started as a routine disagreement about whether the Sacketts needed a Clean Water Act permit to build their dream home on the site has morphed into a high-stakes legal battle that has reached the nation's highest court. Sackett v. EPA, which is likely to be argued in January, is one of two environmental cases the court has on its docket for the 2011 term, which begins Oct. 3. The other is PPL Montana v. Montana (Greenwire, June 20). Sitting in the office at his contracting and excavation business in the village of Priest Lake, just down the road from the disputed site, Mike Sackett cannot quite believe what's happened. "What are two people from northern Idaho doing going to the Supreme Court?" the jovial 45-year-old said, shaking his head. "It's overwhelming." For full story, click here.