BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The changes the Environmental Protection Agency made to the meaning of “Waters of the United States” have been stopped by a recent Supreme Court decision about a lawsuit brought by a couple from Idaho.
The EPA changed the meaning of WOTUS in the Clean Water Act earlier this year. This would have given them more power to control wetlands and other bodies of water.
The EPA says that these rules are needed so that these sources of water don’t become dirty or full of chemicals.
Their change has been met with a lot of opposition, not just from farmers but also from 24 states that filed a lawsuit against it. However, the recent decision by the Supreme Court is not because of this opposition.
The Idaho couple known as the Sacklers filed a lawsuit, which is what led to the Supreme Court’s ruling. In this case, it says that the couple is suing the EPA because it stopped them from building a house near a lake after wetlands were found on part of their land.
The claim says that EPA officials said these wetlands were protected by the Clean Water Act and needed to be kept clean. Before they could keep building on their own land, the couple had to get a permit.
Even though the Sacklers are suing for a totally different reason, it all comes down to the same problem that farmers told Eyewitness News about before.
In May, almond farmer Jenny Holtermann said that she was worried about the changes that the EPA made to WOTUS in March. Holtermann’s worries were the same as those of the Idaho couple in the case they brought against the EPA.
The Sacklers and Holtermann both say that the EPA’s concept of a wetland is too broad and needs to be narrowed down. The Supreme Court heard about this case and decided in favor of the couple, saying that the definition was too broad.
Environmental groups and state politicians are also not happy with this decision. Alex Padilla, a senator from California, said in a statement that he did not agree with the decision.
He said that the Majority’s opinion will put water in danger and go against a long history of government protection.
The Supreme Court’s decision today makes it much harder for the EPA to deal with water pollution in the United States, such as by protecting the country’s remaining marshes. Unfortunately, the Court has been making a lot of decisions like this lately, and they don’t protect our air, water, or land. Clean water should be a top concern for everyone. This was what Congress had in mind when they wrote the Clean Water Act, which tells the EPA to protect our waterways.