Clean Water

CLEAN WATER

The US Supreme Court struck a blow against environmental justice on 5/25/23 when it ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can not regulate discharge of pollution into wetlands unless they have “a continuous surface connection” to bodies of water such as streams. rivers, oceans and lakes. This ruling could endanger half the nation’s wetlands, low places where water gathers, wildlife breeds, floods are buffered, and from which water slowly feeds into larger bodies of water by barely visible connections. Deer Isle has many such marshy areas where cattails and frogs thrive, as well as vernal pools.

The Clean Water Act of 1972 has done a great deal to decontaminate the waterways of the US. Some of us may recall stinking streams, the river in Cleveland that caught fire, algae-clogged lakes, flooded urban areas where wetlands were paved over. We must protect our waters, and now our attention should focus on Congress, which needs to strengthen EPA regulations.

Sources: The New York Times, 5/26 and 5/30/23