Biden rule, heeding Supreme Court, could strip more than half of U.S wetlands’ protections

 

The Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday it has revised a key rule to comply with a sweeping U.S. Supreme Court ruling from earlier this year, which could strip federal protections from up to 63 percent of the nation’s wetlands.In a final rule issued Tuesday, the EPA and the Department of the Army changed parts of the previous definition of “waters of the United States” to align with the Supreme Court’s decision, which weakened the federal agencies’ power to regulate the nation’s waterways.“While I am disappointed by the Supreme Court’s decision in the Sackett case, EPA and Army have an obligation to apply this decision alongside our state co-regulators, Tribes, and partners,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a news release Tuesday.As a result of the decision, several types of waters will no longer be under federal protection, an EPA official said, including an estimated 1.2 million to 4.9 million miles of ephemeral streams. Up to 63 percent of wetlands by acreage in the United States could also be affected, the official added, citing mapping done by the Fish and Wildlife Service...MORE

An alternative headline could be:

Supreme Ct. stops agencies from "striping" thousands of their property rights