EPA Moves Forward in Gutting Federal Wetland Protections

WASHINGTON — This week, the Environmental Protection Agency received its first round of comments for a new rule that will redefine "waters of the United States" in order to remove protections for fragile ecological wetlands.

This follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Sackett v. EPA, which effectively gutted environmental protections for more than half of the wetlands in the United States. Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, struck the statute’s deliberately broad protection of wetlands that are "adjacent" to "waters of the United States," changing it to "adjoining," and claiming that only wetlands with a "continuous surface connection" to protected waters were covered by the Clean Water Act.

The ruling drew further criticism because billionaire Clarence Thomas' benefactor, Harlon Crow, had lobbied for it. It had previously been revealed that Justice Thomas had failed to disclose decades' worth of expensive gifts, including real estate that Crow had bestowed on the justice. Thomas did not recuse himself from the case, joining Scalia, Roberts, and Alito to provide the decisive vote in the 5-4 ruling.

Even Justice Brett Kavanaugh, appointed by Trump and considered one of the most corporatist justices in SCOTUS history, could not join the majority. Kavanaugh's dissenting opinion accused the court of "rewriting the law" and failing to "stick to the text."