Read the full story at The Hill.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday announced a new rule that could curtail protections from more than 60 percent of protected lands, in response to a May Supreme Court ruling that curtailed which waters are subject to federal Clean Water Act protections.
The revised Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule breaks from longstanding federal waters protections to require that protected wetlands have a clearer link to waterways like oceans and rivers.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement that the agency had no choice but to narrow the rule’s scope following the Sackett v. EPA decision, in which the Supreme Court’s conservative majority wrote that protections could only apply where there is a “continuous surface connection” to a protected body of water.
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