The Supreme Court has curtailed the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to protect wetlands, siding with Chantell and Michael Sackett in their long-running legal battle to build their dream home near the shore of an Idaho lake. The anti-conservation Pacific Legal Foundation represented the couple.
Experts in environmental law say the decision will sharply limit the EPA’s authority to protect millions of acres of wetlands under the Clean Water Act, leaving them subject to pollution without penalty.
Kevin Minoli, who worked as a senior EPA lawyer from the Clinton through the Trump administrations overseeing the enforcement of Clean Water Act regulations, said the decision will have enormous practical consequences and estimated that it will affect more than half the nation’s wetlands.
“If you’re in an area with a lot of wetlands but those wetlands are not directly connected to a continuously flowing water body, then those wetlands are no longer protected by the Clean Water Act,” he told the New York Times.
Quick hits
Montana alters its environmental protection law to limit legal challenges by green groups
Experts say Indigenous sacred sites are increasingly under threat
Snowpack predicted to retreat in California’s mountains due to climate change
Arizona water providers agree to voluntary CAP water cuts to preserve levels at Lake Mead
What the pause on mining at Oak Flat means for Tribal Nations
Will Nevada lawmakers approve funding for water rights buyback program?
Lawmakers near deal on energy permitting in debt ceiling talks
Digging into Utah’s latest attack on the Antiquities Act
Quote of the day
There, the majority’s non-textualism barred the EPA from addressing climate change by curbing power plant emissions in the most effective way. Here, that method prevents the EPA from keeping our country’s waters clean by regulating adjacent wetlands. The vice in both instances is the same: the court’s appointment of itself as the national decision maker on environmental policy.”
Picture this
Take the break and spend some time in nature. You’re important. The outdoors and public lands are waiting for you. #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth
(featured image: Wetlands in the Green River floodplain in Utah, Utah Geological Survey)