May 22
The Obama administration is asking Congress to pass legislation
clarifying which bodies of water are covered by the Clean Water Act.
Nancy Sutley, chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental
Quality, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, and the heads of the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, the Agriculture Department and the Interior Department
signed a letter to Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., expressing the
administrationīs desire for Congress to eliminate confusion stemming from
two U.S. Supreme Court decisions.
"Supreme Court decisions in 2001 and 2006 narrowed the prior interpretation
of the scope of waters protected by the Clean Water Act," the administration
members wrote to Boxer. "Federal agencies have faced significant challenges
implementing these recent decisions. In addition, U.S. Circuit courts of
Appeal have taken different positions in interpreting the Supreme Court
decisions, further complicating implementation."
The administration officials were referring to the 2001 ruling in the Solid
Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and
the 2006 decision in Rapanos v. the United States. Those rulings narrowed
the scope of the 37-year-old Clean Water Act as it applies to smaller bodies
of water and wetlands.
The result, according to the administrationīs letter, has been confusion
over which bodies of water are protected by various pollution programs under
the Clean Water Act.
Contact Waste & Recycling News senior reporter Bruce Geiselman at bgeiselman@crain.com
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