August 30, 2023

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.

You probably already know about Neil Gorsuch and his mommy issues. Because he's a Supreme Court justice, he gets to take it out on the entire country instead of seeing a therapist, like a grownup.

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon