WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court sharply limited the federal government’s authority (EPA) to police water pollution into certain wetlands, the second decision in as many years in which a conservative majority narrowed the reach of environmental regulations.
The outcome could threaten efforts to control flooding on the Mississippi River, among many projects, wrote Justice Brett Kavanaugh, breaking with the other five conservatives.
Environmental advocates said the decision would strip protections from tens of millions of acres of wetlands.
The justices' decision boosted property rights over concerns about clean water in a ruling in favor of an Idaho couple who sought to build a house on their property near Priest Lake, but EPA officials identified a soggy portion of the property as wetlands requiring them to get a permit before filling it with rocks and soil.
By a 5-4 vote, the court said in an opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito that wetlands can only be regulated under the Clean Water Act if they have a “continuous surface connection” to larger, regulated bodies of water.
There is no such connection on the Sacketts’ property.
President Joe Biden said the court’s decision defies science and undermines law that has been used for 50 years to make American waters cleaner. The decision in Sackett v. EPA will take our country backwards," the president said.
Manish Bapna, chief executive of the Natural Resources Defense Council, called on Congress to amend the Clean Water Act to restore wetlands protections and on states to strengthen their own laws.
The outcome will likely affect ongoing court battles over new water regulations, including for wetlands, that the Biden administration put in place in December.
Two federal judges have temporarily blocked those rules from being enforced in 26 states. (The AP 05/235/23)
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