EPA Rolls Back Wetlands Protections After SCOTUS Decision

The Biden administration yesterday lifted protections for millions of acres of wetlands, three months after the Roberts Supreme Court found that the EPA lacked the authority to regulate them. Via the New York Times:

In May, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government can no longer control discharges into wetlands near bodies of water unless they have “a continuous surface connection” to those waters.

That effectively made thousands of wetlands and waterways off limits to any government pollution controls because they do not connect directly to larger bodies of water.

Experts in environmental law said the decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency would leave many wetlands subject to pollution without penalty, and White House officials said it would jeopardize sources of clean drinking water.

Still, on Tuesday, the administration said it was abiding by that ruling by issuing a new regulation that essentially exempts millions of streams, marshes and wetlands from federal protection. Michael Regan, the E.P.A. administrator, said that neither he nor the head of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had any choice.

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