At the end of April 2025, four cases were commenced in NYS Supreme Court contesting new freshwater wetlands regulations (6 NYCRR Part 664) that went into effect on January 1, 2025.  Links to these petitions are below.  Petitioners in these cases present the following general arguments for the court’s review:

🔹 Jurisdictional Overreach –DEC’s expanded authority now covers areas never previously regulated as wetlands—including open water, unmapped parcels, and entire urban zones—without statutory basis.

🔹 Loss of Procedural Safeguards – The prior mapping process with site-specific notice, hearings, and records has been replaced with a rebuttable presumption of jurisdiction, assessed largely by remote desktop review.

🔹 Impact on Smart Growth & Housing – The regulations are at odds with state housing goals, effectively stalling development in high-priority growth areas through burdensome permitting and inflexible classification criteria.

🔹 Redundant & Restrictive Regulation – Everyday shoreline and upland practices like weed harvesting, landscaping, and septic maintenance now face new wetland permitting standards—on top of existing Article 15 and SPDES programs.

🔹 Scientific & Legal Ambiguity – The classification of “wetlands of unusual importance” is unscientific and discretionary, raising concerns about predictability, enforceability, and potential arbitrary treatment.

🔹 SAPA & SEQRA Compliance – The rulemaking lacked sufficient environmental review and failed to meaningfully respond to substantial public comment.

🔹 Takings & Property Rights – With virtually no clear thresholds or mapped boundaries, many landowners face a practical freeze on development—leading to claims of regulatory takings and loss of value.

📌 These cases will test the outer bounds of regulatory authority and redefine how we manage freshwater systems in a changing climate and evolving policy landscape.

Environmental attorneys and consultants should follow these cases closely—this litigation may shape permitting, due diligence, and enforcement for years to come.

Chautauqua Lake Property Owners Association, Inc. et al v. NYSDEC, Index No. 903982-25 (Albany Co. Sup. Ct)

Village of Kiryas Joel et al v. NYSDEC, Index No. 904424-25 (Albany Co. Sup. Ct)

Business Council of New York State, Inc. et al. v. NYSDEC, Index No. 904423-25 (Albany Co. Sup. Ct.)

Chautauqua Lake Partnership, Inc. et al., v. NYSDEC, Index No. EK120250000628 (Chautauqua Co. Sup. Ct – request for change of venue to Albany filed)