The Supreme Court last week restricted the EPA’s ability to protect America’s waterways and wetlands. Illinois can’t afford to sit back and do nothing to protect both in our state, the head of the Illinois Environmental Council writes.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Illinois Legislature must act immediately to protect wetlands following the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling rolling back decades of protection for clean water, habitats, and public health.
In 2019, the Trump administration dealt a critical blow to conservation efforts across the country by redefining “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) within the Clean Waters Act, effectively cutting EPA’s jurisdiction to regulate a substantial amount of waterways and over half the nation’s wetlands. This move was recognized as a piece of the administration’s larger attack on preexisting policies, including much-needed environmental protections.
In the following years, the Biden administration would take over and eventually redefine and expand WOTUS, restoring federal protections to many waterways and wetlands nationwide.
But last Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to essentially bring back the Trump-era WOTUS definition, and additionally gut the Clean Waters Act even further by removing protections that go back to the Reagan administration. Current law requires that projects that demolish wetlands mitigate the impacts with habitat restoration, drainage solutions, or other important ecosystem services.
You may not immediately see the impacts, but they will soon be felt by all of us. Stormwater displaced by the loss of wetlands that would normally absorb excess water must go somewhere. Certainly, some will find a way into our streets, homes, and businesses.
Wetlands are an invaluable natural resource. They reduce flooding, filter out pollutants from water, provide habitat for a host of endangered species, and help reduce climate-warming carbon in our atmosphere. In Illinois, more than 85% of our wetlands have already been lost to development, according to the Illinois State Water Plan. Remaining wetlands are already suffering decreased biodiversity and an influx of difficult-to-control invasive species.
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