The Supreme Court on Thursday pulled the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to enforce the Clean Water Act a bit downstream.
Water. A simple word and need. The inorganic compound prompts complex reactions to how we use and and in the U.S., regulate it. The Supreme Court returned a ruling late this week that rolled back many of the EPA’s attempts to regulate through the Waters of the U.S. rule. Peter Tubbs reports.
Transcript
The Supreme Court on Thursday pulled the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to enforce the Clean Water Act a bit downstream.
In a 5-4 vote the Court held that the Clean Water Act covers only wetlands “with a continuous surface connection” to those waters, and that the Agency is not allowed to police discharges into some wetlands, even if they are close to other bodies of water.
The ruling is another chapter in the contentious debate over the exact definition of what types of wetlands fall under the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act.
The case revolved around the building of a home in Idaho on a wetland the EPA believed fell under its jurisdiction. Lower courts had upheld the EPA’s enforcement using the “significant nexus tests” included in a 2006 Supreme Court case.
The agency’s use of the significant nexus test has been at the heart of industry and agriculture opposition to the EPA’s application of the Waters of the United States, or WOTUS, policies. The EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have generally determined waters are under their jurisdiction if there is a physical connection to larger navigable bodies of water. Those policies will have to be restrained in the future.
For Market to Market, I’m Peter Tubbs.
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