Advocacy Watch

Supreme Court Decision Threatens Waterways that Birds (and People) Need. The Court’s ruling in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency removes crucial protections for wetlands, limiting the Clean Water Act. “This Supreme Court ruling weakens our federal standards for clean water, threatening our ability to protect ecosystems and landscapes needed for birds and communities across the country,” said Julie Hill-Gabriel, Audubon’s Vice President for Water Conservation. “Federal experts will no longer be able to require certain development permits in America’s decimated wetlands. This decision undermines Clean Water Act protections for many types of waterways that birds and people need, all while birds are telling us that more action is needed to protect their future.” Western Water News 

"The decision focused specifically on wetlands, but it may hold implications for numerous other waterways throughout the nation. Five out of the nine judges ruled that wetlands can only be regulated under the Clean Water Act if they have a “continuous surface connection” to larger bodies of water. The seasonal streams are so beneficial because they protect our surface and groundwater quality, the buffer downstream private property by conveying floodwaters and sediment and dirt, they replenish our groundwater," said Haley Paul, policy director at the Southwest branch of the Audubon Society."  Wetlands water