A snowy egret stands throughout the salt marsh at Station Creek Landing in St Helena, S.C., on July 10, 2023.

Jim Watson/AFP through Getty Images

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Jim Watson/AFP through Getty Images

A snowy egret stands throughout the salt marsh at Station Creek Landing in St Helena, S.C., on July 10, 2023.

Jim Watson/AFP through Getty Images

The Environmental Protection Agency eliminated federal protections for a majority of the nation’s wetlands on Tuesday to adjust to a latest U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

The EPA and Department of the Army introduced a ultimate rule amending the definition of protected “waters of the United States” in mild of the choice in Sackett v. EPA in May, which narrowed the scope of the Clean Water Act and the company’s energy to manage waterways and wetlands.

Developers and environmental teams have for many years argued in regards to the scope of the 1972 Clean Water Act in defending waterways and wetlands.

“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 mentioned in an announcement.

A 2006 Supreme Court resolution decided that wetlands can be protected if they’d a “significant nexus” to main waterways. This yr’s courtroom resolution undid that commonplace. The EPA’s new rule “removes the significant nexus test from consideration when identifying tributaries and other waters as federally protected,” the company mentioned.

In May, Justice Samuel Alito said the navigable U.S. waters regulated by the EPA beneath the Clean Water Act don’t embody many beforehand regulated wetlands. Writing the courtroom’s resolution, he mentioned the legislation consists of solely streams, oceans, rivers and lakes, and wetlands with a “continuous surface connection to those bodies.”

The EPA mentioned the rule will take impact instantly. “The agencies are issuing this amendment to the 2023 rule expeditiously — three months after the Supreme Court decision — to provide clarity and a path forward consistent with the ruling,” the company mentioned.

As a results of the rule change, protections for a lot of waterways and wetlands will now fall to states.

Environmental teams mentioned the brand new rule underscores the issues of the Supreme Court resolution.

“While the Administration’s rule attempts to protect clean water and wetlands, it is severely limited in its ability to do so as a result of the Supreme Court ruling which slashed federal protections for thousands of miles of small streams and wetlands,” mentioned the group American Rivers. “This means communities across the U.S. are now more vulnerable to pollution and flooding. Streams and wetlands are not only important sources of drinking water, they are buffers against extreme storms and floodwaters.”

“This rule spells out how the Sackett decision has undermined our ability to prevent the destruction of our nation’s wetlands, which protect drinking water, absorb floods and provide habitat for wildlife,” mentioned Jim Murphy, the National Wildlife Federation’s director of authorized advocacy. “Congress needs to step up to protect the water we drink, our wildlife, and our way of life.”

Meanwhile, some enterprise teams mentioned the EPA’s rollback didn’t go far sufficient.

Courtney Briggs, chair of the Waters Advocacy Coalition, mentioned federal companies “have chosen to ignore” the bounds of their jurisdictional attain. “This revised rule does not adequately comply with Supreme Court precedent and with the limits on regulatory jurisdiction set forth in the Clean Water Act,” she mentioned in an announcement.

Nathan Rott contributed to this story.