After Supreme Court curtails federal power, Biden administration weakens water protections

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.