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The #Trump admin proposed Monday to significantly limit the EPA’s authority to limit #pollution in #wetlands, #rivers & other bodies of #water across the country.

The proposed rule could strip federal #protections from millions of acres of wetlands & #streams, potentially threatening sources of clean #DrinkingWater for millions of Americans.

#climate #wildlife #law #EnvironmentalLaw #CleanWaterAct
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/climate/epa-curbs-protections-for-wetlands.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

https://www.nytimes.com

E.P.A. Rule Would Drastically Curb Protections for Wetlands

Nonilex

@Nonilex@masto.ai replied · yesterday

It was a victory for a range of business interests that have lobbied to scale back the #CleanWaterAct of 1972, including farmers, home builders, real estate developers, #oil drillers & #petrochemical manufacturers.

…Under the #CleanWater Act, companies & individuals must obtain a permit from the #EPA before releasing #pollutants into the nation’s #waterways. They must receive a permit from the US Army Corps of Engineers.…

#climate #wildlife #law #EnvironmentalLaw

Nonilex

@Nonilex@masto.ai replied · yesterday

A 2023 #SCOTUS decision set the stage for the action by limiting the agency’s power to police #wetlands. In the opinion in Sackett v. EPA, Justice #Alito wrote that the #CleanWaterAct allowed the #EPA to regulate only wetlands with a “continuous surface connection” to a “relatively permanent” body of #water.

But he did not explicitly define a “relatively permanent” body of water. Now, the #Trump admin is describing it as a body of water that flows year-round or during the “wet season.”

#law

Nonilex

@Nonilex@masto.ai replied · yesterday

The new definition would exclude #wetlands that abut or touch many intermittent #streams, which do not flow during dry periods. It also could exclude ephemeral streams, which sit dry for much of the year & fill up only after rainfall or snowmelt.

These changes could strip federal #protections from up to 55 million acres of wetlands, or about 85% of wetlands nationwide, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.

#Trump #climate #wildlife #law #EnvironmentalLaw

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