The Supreme Court issued its ruling on Sackett v. EPA on May 25, 2023, stripping out key protections from the Clean Water Act. This move curtailed the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to police water pollution, ruling that the Clean Water Act does not allow the agency to regulate discharges into some wetlands near bodies of water. The court held that law covers only wetlands ‘with a continuous surface connection’ to those waters, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote for five justices.
Headway Environmental will be on the lookout for EPA and US Army Corps Of Engineers guidance on the next steps.