CHARLESTON — The U.S. Supreme Court received praise Thursday from West Virginia elected officials for ruling in favor of an Idaho family in a wetlands dispute with federal regulators that could benefit state farmers and property owners.

In Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday that wetlands on land in Idaho owned by Chantell and Mike Sackett do not fall under the jurisdiction of federal environmental regulators.

While the justices were unanimous in their ruling in favor of the Sacketts, the justices ruled 5-4 that the 1972 Clean Water Act (CWA) only applied to wetlands with similarities to larger bodies of water with what the justices call a “continuous surface connection.”

“The Act applies to ‘the waters of the United States,’ but what does that phrase mean? Does the term encompass any backyard that is soggy enough for some minimum period of time,” asked Justice Samuel Alito, writing the majority opinion for the court.

“In sum, we hold that the CWA extends to only those ‘wetlands with a continuous surface connection to bodies that are ‘waters of the United States’ in their own right,’ so that they are ‘indistinguishable’ from those waters,” Alito continued. “The wetlands on the Sacketts’ property are distinguishable from any possibly covered waters.”

A provision of the CWA defining Waters of the United States, or WOTUS, has been a contentious issue over the last several decades with several court cases. While supporters of the CWA see it as a way to protect against water pollution, opponents of the various federal WOTUS definitions say it burdens landowners whose wetlands have no connections to greater water supplies.

West Virginia was part of a 26-state coalition supporting the Sackett family. Morrisey said Thursday’s decision finally puts the issue to bed.

“We now have a clearer definition for Waters of the United States, and we’re pleased the Supreme Court ruled in a way that state lands and waters are less subject to the whims of unelected bureaucrats,” Morrisey said in a statement Thursday morning. “The EPA’s confused, convoluted and overbroad understanding of wetlands subject to its regulation would have been costly to property owners who would have spent years and tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars just getting permission from the federal regulators to build on their own property.”

The latest WOTUS rule, developed by the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and finalized at the end of last year, defines what is and isn’t a wetland, stream or “navigable waters.” The rule would provide protections to interstate rivers and the streams and wetlands connected to those waterways.

The rule, which went into effect March 20, was overturned through the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to pass resolutions to halt final rules. All of West Virginia’s representation in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives voted to reject President Joe Biden’s new WOTUS rule, though Biden vetoed that resolution.

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., is the ranking Republican member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. She said Thursday’s Supreme Court decision would help state farmers, businesses, and landowners.

“Today, the Supreme Court sent a loud and clear warning shot to the Biden administration about its attempts to overregulate the lives of millions of Americans,” Capito said. “By rejecting the ‘significant nexus’ test, the Court protected America’s farmers, ranchers, builders, and landowners from overreach under the Clean Water Act, and ruled President Biden’s recent WOTUS rule goes too far.”