The Supreme Court drastically reduced federal protection for wetlands in 2023. Two environmental lawyers explain how private businesses and nongovernment organizations can help fill the gap.
Water runs into a storm drain in a Los Angeles alley on Aug. 19, 2023, during Tropical Storm Hilary.
Citizen of the Planet/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
US cities are doing green infrastructure, but in bits and pieces. Today’s climate-driven floods require a much broader approach to create true sponge cities that are built to soak up water.
PacifiCorp’s Hunter coal-fired power plant in Utah is scheduled to shut down by 2032.
George Frey/Getty Images
A pipeline that has carried Canadian oil and gas across Wisconsin and Michigan for 70 years has become a symbol of fossil fuel politics and a test of local regulatory power.
Many ecologically important wetlands, like these in Kulm, N.D., lack surface connections to navigable waterways.
USFWS Mountain-Prairie/Flickr
In Sackett v. EPA, a suit filed by two homeowners who filled in wetlands on their property, the Supreme Court has drastically narrowed the definition of which wetlands qualify for federal protection.
The Clean Water Act was meant to keep pollution out of U.S. waters.
David McNew/Getty Images
A new study reveals wide disparities among state-issued Clean Water Act fines, and even among federal fines from regions to region. A law professor explains why it may be illegal.
Raw sewage bubbles up in the front yard of a home in Jackson, Mississippi, on Oct. 20, 2021.
Rory Doyle/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Congress has approved billions of dollars to fix water and sewer systems across the US. But getting that money to needy communities depends on how states define a key word.
Wetlands like this one in California’s Morro Bay Estuary shelter fish, animals and plants and help control flooding.
Citizen of the Planet/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
The Supreme Court opens its 2022-2023 session with a high-profile case that has major implications for both wildlife and landowners.
President-elect Joe Biden opposes proposals to allow uranium mining around the Grand Canyon, which the Trump administration supports.
Michael Quinn, NPS/Flickr
The Trump administration has used executive orders, deregulation and delays to reduce environmental regulation. Biden administration officials will use many of the same tools to undo their work.
Harmful algal bloom in Lake Erie, Sept. 4, 2009.
NOAA/Flickr
Warmer waters, heavier storms and nutrient pollution are a triple threat to Great Lakes cities’ drinking water. The solution: Cutting nutrient releases and installing systems to filter runoff.
Biscuit Brook, a popular fly fishing spot in New York’s Catskill Mountains.
Ellen Wohl
The Trump administration wants to end federal protection under the Clean Water Act for many small streams and wetlands. But as a geoscientist explains, these are critical parts of large river systems.
Hull Peninsula and part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area.
Eric Kilby/Flickr
A few decades ago Boston Harbor was one of the nation’s dirtiest water bodies. Now, healthier fish in the harbor underscore that a multibillion-dollar cleanup has succeeded.
A barn that can hold up to 4,800 hogs outside Berwick, Pa. The state says the farm is in compliance with regulations, but residents have gone to court seeking relief from odors.
AP Photo/Michael Rubinkam
Many people who live near large-scale livestock farms complain about noxious smells, air and water pollution and health risks. With little help from regulators, they are turning to lawsuits.
Harmful algae bloom in Lake Erie, Oct. 13, 2011.
NASA Earth Observatory
Nitrogen and phosphorus are polluting US waters, creating algae blooms and dead zones. New research confirms that voluntary steps are failing in the Gulf of Mexico and unlikely to work in Lake Erie.
Snow geese settle on a wetland in North Dakota. If the Trump administration successfully rescinds the Clean Water Rule, many wetlands might lose federal protection.
Krista Lundgren USFWS/Flickr
The Clean Water Rule spells out which streams, wetlands and other water bodies receive federal protection. The Trump administration wants to repeal it, but will face high hurdles in court.
Fertilizer runoff and other activities have 60 percent of Chesapeake Bay in a virtual dead zone.
Chesapeake Bay Program
In its first environmental case post-Scalia, the Supreme Court rebuffs farm and ranching interests that opposed the EPA’s multistate plan to restore Chesapeake Bay using the Clean Water Act.
In addition to the Clean Power Act policy for climate change, the Supreme Court will be hearing cases on the extent of protections under the Clean Water Act.
ex_magician/flickr
A look at Scalia’s decidedly negative legacy on environment reveals how important the next Supreme Court will be on environmental questions, including the EPA Clean Power Plan.
Power of the pen: Obama signs executive order to reduce greenhouse gases from government.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
The EPA said it will regulate emissions from airplanes – the latest in a string of environmental and climate regulations Obama has used to bypass the Republican-led Congress.
Where do clean water rules begin and end?
Mr.TinDC
The EPA is seeking to clarify the reach of the landmark Clean Water Act to cover tributaries, yet people in agriculture and homeowners worry it will lead to onerous permitting.