Supreme Court dramatically shrinks Clean Water Act’s reach

Photo: The ruling from the court’s conservative majority vastly narrowing the federal government’s authority over marshes and bogs is a win for industries such as homebuilding and oil and gas. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo

The Biden administration this year finalized a rule to cement broad protections for wetlands. That regulation must now be reworked in light of the Supreme Court ruling.

The Supreme Court on Thursday significantly shrank the reach of federal clean water protections, dealing a major blow to President Joe Biden’s efforts to restore protections to millions of acres of wetlands and delivering a victory to multiple powerful industries.

The ruling from the court’s conservative majority vastly narrowing the federal government’s authority over marshes and bogs is a win for industries such as homebuilding and oil and gas, which must seek Clean Water Act permits to damage federally protected wetlands. Those industries have fought for decades to limit the law’s reach.

The ruling comes less than a year after the high court issued a contentious ruling restricting EPA’s ability to regulate climate warming gases, and liberal Justice Elena Kagan decried Thursday that the court has appointed “itself as the national decision-maker on environmental policy.”

The 5-4 ruling in Sackett v. EPA creates a far narrower test than what has been used for more […]

Full article: www.politico.com