Bummer: SCOTUS Rules 9-0 Against Biden’s Waters Of The USA Rule

This had made liberals very mad…right up to the point where Los Federales decide to regulate the small pond on their own property. In fairness, this doesn’t directly smack around the rule, but, puts it on notice to just stop right now

Supreme Court rules against EPA in dispute over regulating wetlands

The Supreme Court on Thursday curtailed the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate certain wetlands that qualify as “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act, curbing what has long been seen as a key tool to protect waterways from pollution.

The high court ruled against the agency in a long-running dispute with Idaho landowners known as Sackett v. EPA. In an opinion authored by Justice Samuel Alito, the court found that the agency’s interpretation of the wetlands covered by the Clean Water Act is “inconsistent” with the law’s text and structure, and the law extends only to “wetlands with a continuous surface connection to bodies of water that are ‘waters of the United States’ in their own right.”

While the majority acknowledged that weather and climate events like low tides and dry spells can cause “temporary interruptions” between bodies of waters covered by the law, the court said that wetlands protected under the Clean Water Act should be otherwise “indistinguishable” from other regulated waters.

Protecting wetlands is great. I’m all for it, though, if they are solely in a state that should be up to the state, not the federal government. Extending it out to just about any running water? No. Do you really want the EPA to regulate that small pond behind your house and make you get all sorts of permits? How about for temporary streams? It really is just a power grab

In a concurring opinion authored by Kavanaugh and joined by the three liberal justices, Kavanaugh argued the “continuous surface connection” test adopted by the majority “departs from the statutory text, from 45 years of consistent agency practice, and from this court’s precedents.”

By narrowing the scope of Clean Water Act, Kavanaugh warned some long-regulated wetlands will no longer be covered by the law, which will have “significant repercussions for water quality and flood control” throughout the nation.

I understand their reasoning, but, the EPA is contending that a small stream is navigable and under their purview and control, a massive stretch, as the EPA, and most federal agencies like to do. There would be no need for this ruling or even a case if the EPA wasn’t continuously attempting to grab more and more power.

The decision from the conservative court is the latest to target the authority of the EPA to police pollution. On the final day of its term last year, the high court limited the agency’s power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, dealing a blow to efforts to combat climate change.

It’s not about targeting their authority, it’s about reigning in their authority as deemed by law which the EPA wants to expand.

President Biden criticized the Supreme Court’s decision as “disappointing” and pledged to work with the Justice Department and relevant federal agencies to use their legal authority to protect the nation’s waters. Mr. Biden said the ruling puts wetlands and connecting bodies of water at risk of “pollution and destruction.”

What if the EPA decided to crack down on Biden’s properties using the same rule? I wonder how he would respond?

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