Today, in an unsurprising attack on water quality and in line with the Project 2025 document, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the need for a “durable” definition for which water resources are protected under the Clean Water Act. In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. EPA, most wetlands and many streams have lost protection, despite overwhelming scientific evidence that these water bodies impact larger water bodies downstream, including those that serve as drinking water sources. The Biden administration had already established a definition for the “Waters of the United States" for the purposes of the Clean Water Act to comply with Sackett v EPA, using the pre-2015 definition as a foundation. This move ignores Biden’s amendment.
This is another setback for our waters, putting our communities and drinking water systems at risk.
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Clean Water Action is a national 501(c)(4) environmental organization with nearly one million members nationwide. Since our founding during the campaign to pass the landmark Clean Water Act in 1972, Clean Water Action has worked to win strong health and environmental protections by bringing issue expertise, solution-oriented thinking and people power to the table. Learn more at cleanwater.org.