WASHINGTON The Biden administration weakened regulations protecting millions of acres of wetlands Tuesday, saying it had no choice after the Supreme Court sharply limited the federal government s jurisdiction over them.
The U.S. Supreme Court boosted property rights over concerns about clean water in a May ruling in favor of an Idaho couple who sought to build a house near a lake.
The Biden Administration weakened protections for wetlands on Tuesday. Federal officials were forced to make the change after the Supreme Court's decision in May that sharply limited the federal government's power to regulate wetlands. The justices' Sackett decision in May boosted property rights over concerns about clean water. The EPA said that because of the Supreme Court's decision, the federal government no longer has the power to regulate wetlands that don't have a “continuous surface connection” to larger, regulated bodies of water.
WASHINGTON (AP) The Biden administration weakened regulations protecting millions of acres of wetlands Tuesday, saying it had no choice after the Supreme Court sharply limited the federal government.