The Biden administration weakened regulations protecting millions of acres of wetlands Tuesday, saying it had no choice after the Supreme Court sharply limited the federal government's jurisdiction over them. A new rule requires that wetlands be more clearly connected to other waters like oceans and rivers, a policy shift that departs from a half-century of federal rules governing the nation's waterways. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan said the agency had no alternative after the Supreme Court sharply limited the federal government's power to regulate wetlands that do not have a "continuous surface connection" to larger, regulated bodies of water, the AP reports.
Justices boosted property rights over concerns about clean water in a May ruling in favor of an Idaho couple who sought to build a house near a lake. Chantell and Michael Sackett had objected when federal officials required them to get a permit before filling part of the property with rocks and soil. The ruling was the second decision in as many years in which a conservative majority on the high court narrowed the reach of environmental regulations. "While I am disappointed by the Supreme Court's decision in the Sackett case, EPA and Army (Corps of Engineers) have an obligation to apply this decision alongside our state co-regulators," Regan said in a statement Tuesday.
Developers and agriculture groups have long sought to limit the federal government's power to use the Clean Water Act to regulate waterways, arguing the law should cover fewer types of rivers, streams, and wetlands. Environmental groups have long pushed for a broader definition that would protect more waters. The court's decision broke with a 2006 opinion by former Justice Anthony Kennedy that said wetlands were regulated if they had a "significant nexus" to larger bodies of water. That had been the standard for evaluating whether developers needed a permit before they could discharge into wetlands. Opponents had long said the standard was vague, hard to interpret, and generally unworkable.
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The rule announced Tuesday revises a rule finalized earlier this year regulating "waters of the United States." It removes the "significant nexus" test from consideration when identifying tributaries and other waters as federally protected. Because the sole purpose of the new rule is to amend specific provisions of the previous rule that were rendered invalid by the high court, the new rule will take effect immediately, the EPA said. (More wetlands stories.)
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