wetlands
New federal water pollution rule draws mixed reaction
A federal rule limiting agencies’ power to regulate water pollution will severely restrict protections for waters and wetlands throughout the country, but could also be subject to challenges from conservative groups that maintain the new rule exerts more federal jurisdiction than the U.S. Supreme Court intended in a May decision. With the rule published Tuesday […]
Reporter Jacob Fischler on how D.C. decisionmakers are responding to some environmental rulings
Wetlands. To some they may seem like unsightly swamps but as we’ve come to understand in recent decades, wetlands are an absolutely essential part of global ecosystems and something that we plow over and develop at our own peril. Worrisomely, a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling promises to invite the destruction of vast swaths of […]
U.S. House Dems want data on impact of Supreme Court ruling on wetlands protection
Top Democrats on the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee asked federal agencies Monday to track possible negative effects from a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that limited federal authority to regulate clean water. Washington’s Rick Larsen, the ranking Democrat on the committee, and Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee ranking member Grace Napolitano of California, […]
Rep. Pricey Harrison on some worrisome new proposals that will impact our elections and environment
Between a recent Supreme Court ruling that undermined the federal Clean Water Act and some hugely destructive language included in the new state Farm Act recently approved by the General Assembly, roughly 2.5 million acres of our state’s wetlands – that’s the shrinking, endangered, and vitally important regions that insulate and protect areas inhabited by […]
Weekend reads: Monumental rulings from abortion to higher ed, and parental rights for some not all
1. NC abortion restrictions begin with one requirement in the new law put on hold By Lynn Bonner A federal judge decided that North Carolina legislators’ bill resolving discrepancies and inconsistencies in the new law restricting abortion adequately addressed many of the problems abortion providers identified in a lawsuit this month. U.S. District Court Judge […]
House, Senate override governor’s veto of Farm Act, jeopardizing 2.5 million acres of NC wetlands
This story was originally posted June 23; it was updated June 27 at 2:45 p.m., after the House overrode the governor’s veto. The House overrode Gov. Cooper’s veto of the Farm Act today, stripping 2.5 million acres of wetlands — an area one and half times larger than the state of Delaware — of environmental […]
U.S. Supreme Court rejects Biden wetlands regulation, ruling for Idaho couple
This story has been updated. The U.S. Supreme Court in a major environmental decision on Thursday overturned the Environmental Protection Agency’s definition of wetlands that fall under the agency’s jurisdiction, siding with an Idaho couple who’d said they should not be required to obtain federal permits to build on their property that lacked any navigable […]
Biden vetoes attempt to repeal WOTUS rule on wetlands
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday vetoed a measure that would repeal a rule expanding which types of wetlands can be regulated under the Clean Water Act. Biden promised to veto the legislation that saw Democrats crossing party lines in both chambers to join Republicans in rolling back a rule that is unpopular with […]