As we approach the one-year anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, it’s essential to reflect on the significant changes this ruling has brought to water protections in the United States.
On May 25, 2023, the Supreme Court dramatically narrowed the scope of the Clean Water Act, leaving nearly half of the country’s surface waters and wetlands without federal protection.
This decision overturned over 50 years of well-established protections and has made state-level protections more crucial than ever.
The Importance of State-Level Wetlands Protections
With the federal government no longer safeguarding approximately half of the country’s surface waters, it falls to state and local governments to protect wetlands and safeguard water resources from pollution and destruction.
State-level protections are now vital to fill the regulatory gap left by the Sackett decision.
Introducing Two Essential Resources
To address the urgent need for effective state-level water protections, Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG) has partnered with Protect Our Waters, a project of the Clean Water for All Coalition, to release two complementary resources:
1. Wetlands Dashboard: State-Level Protections Post Sackett
L4GG, along with our pro bono attorney partners, has compiled a comprehensive Wetlands Dashboard. This dashboard provides an in-depth overview of existing water and wetland protections across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. It catalogs each state’s definitions of “waters of the state” and “wetlands,” identifies the regulating agencies, and evaluates the current state of wetlands protections. It also highlights any proposed changes and model policies that other states can follow.
The Wetlands Dashboard provides state-specific information on existing water and wetlands protections.
The dashboard is designed to help attorneys, advocates, policymakers, regulators, and state legislators identify gaps in their states' wetland protections and offer examples of effective or novel protections from other jurisdictions. It includes criteria for assessing whether a state policy could serve as a model for others, such as comprehensive definitions of waters and wetlands, comparable state protections to federal ones, and the inclusion of citizen suit provisions or funding mechanisms.
Produced by Protect Our Waters, a project of the Clean Water For All Coalition, this report details legislative and regulatory developments at the state level over the past year since the Sackett decision. It provides a thorough analysis of the actions taken by various states to address the regulatory void left by the Supreme Court ruling. The report offers a comprehensive overview of state-level actions and legislative updates, making it an invaluable resource for advocates working to enhance wetlands protections.
How These Resources Work Together
The Wetlands Dashboard and the Advocacy Report are designed to complement each other, providing both historical context and a current status overview. The Dashboard offers a foundational understanding of state-level protections pre- and post-Sackett, while the Advocacy Report highlights recent legislative updates and progress made by states in the past year. Together, these resources serve as a critical toolkit for state and local leaders and advocates working to protect wetlands and water resources in the absence of robust federal oversight.