Remy owns a tract of land in Beaufort County, upon which lie some water-absorbing wetlands known as pocosins, which are non alluvial wetlands (i. e. are not fed by a river or stream) and support dense vegetation. He wishes to clear the pocosins of their vegetation so he can level off the ground to plant soybean. Emile, his down-drainage neighbor and a professional hydrologist, is concerned about losing the pocosins' storm water storage capacity, so he reports Remy to the Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) Wilmington office. He also calls the Water Quality Division of North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.
Under current federal law, what is likely response of the ACE?
a. Remy must obtain a §404 permit to clear and fill the pocosin because all wetlands are protected by the Clean Water Act
b. In deciding whether to require a §404 permit, ACE must first determine whether the pocosin on Remy's land, along with other pocosins in the area, create a hydrological nexus impacting water quality of nearby waters of the United States
c. That because the pocosin does not abut a stream with continuous surface connection or intermittent flow to a navigable-in-fact water, it is not considered a 'water of the United States' and thus not within jurisdiction of the federal government (i. e. ACE) under the Clean Water Act