In May, the Supreme Court told the Environmental Protection Agency it couldn’t regulate lands distant from navigable waters as “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act. Given recent history, this was a momentous decision. Ryan M. Yonk and Ethan Yang, writing for Law & Liberty, have analyzed the subject more deeply. Until…
Tag: wetlands
Was the Court’s EPA Decision 9-0 or 5-4? Here’s the Answer
In a Twitter feed, Jonathan Wood of PERC untangles the confusion over the Supreme Court’s May 25 decision regarding the definition of the “waters of the United States” (WOTUS). The entire Supreme Court reined in the EPA. A majority (5) did so more boldly than the rest (4). From Wood’s Twitter thread: “So why was…
Are Wetlands Navigable Water? The Conflict Continues
A Texas district court has rejected, for the time being, the EPA’s definition of the waters of the United States (“WOTUS”). The EPA’s latest definition went into force nationally on March 20 but the announcement explicitly excluded Texas and Idaho. Idaho was omitted because the Supreme Court is considering the case of Michael and Chantelle…
The Troubled Art of Restoration Ecology
Liam Heneghan is a restoration ecologist, whose professional field—only forty years old, if that—is full of uncertainties. Its goal is to reverse environmental damage and restore land to a more pristine past. He explains: “Where ecosystems have been degraded because of human activity—including an overexploitation of useful species, invasion by exotic pests, erosion of soils,…