The Supreme Court issued a ruling on Thursday that severely curtails the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ability to regulate water pollution in the latest of the far right justices’ crusade against environmental regulations.
In a 5-4 decision, with the three liberal justices and Brett Kavanaugh disagreeing, the Court ruled that the EPA’s jurisdiction over protecting the “waters of the United States” — which is subject to regulation under the Clean Water Act — has been too wide.
Environmental advocates, legal experts and the EPA have held that the agency can protect both “navigable waters” like lakes and rivers, and bodies of water like marshes, bogs, and other wetlands under the Clean Water Act. But writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the “waters of the United States,” or WOTUS, are limited to wetlands with “a continuous surface connection” to large bodies of water.
This is an extreme decision that will exclude tens of millions of acres of wetlands from EPA protection from pollution, affecting roughly half of the country’s wetlands. Earthjustice senior vice president of programs Sam Sankar said that it will pose an “existential threat from polluters and developers” to wetlands that have long been protected from pollution.
Even far right Kavanaugh acknowledged the extremism of the new definition in a separate opinion, which was joined by Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. The majority decision “departs from the statutory text, from 45 years of consistent agency practice, and from this Court’s precedents,” Kavanaugh wrote.
...
I really don't like the fact that they get to dance in the endzone by having the chud justices take turns feigning outrage
Something something we should start making excuses for lack of adventurism.
:doomjak: it sure seems like American elite society has decided to kill itself and take everyone and everything else out along with it
americans, never mind the conservatives, are the stupidest and most selfish people on the planet and they also consume and pollute the most.
There is a reason white Americans are usually portrayed as pigs, if not anglo society altogether. I long for the day those pigs get turned into bacon.
Every now and then, I have to resist the urge to unironically like Idiocracy, even for a millisecond.
Capital will not be satisfied until all matter in the universe is converted into more capital.
This is what 99.99999% of this shithole country unironically believes.
Umm sorry sweaty unless your water is wet i.e. has a continuous surface connection to a large body of water then we can't hold anyone responsible for making sure it's safe to drink
I fucking hate this country.
Miles upon miles of natural beauty, and it is wasted on a bunch of inbred philistines and other such trash.
One thing I genuinely don't understand about rural conservatives is their love of their beautiful countryside, and the burning desire to despoil it.
This is pretty much a guarantee that the US will naturally balkanize as most of the country becomes uninhabitable. I'm willing to bet that all the "safe areas" left will fight with everything to keep migrators from coming in.
secure your place in the Democratic People's Republic of Minnesota while you can
Or come and join the Californian Protectorate of China and it's related satellite states (please let this lathe into existence...)
If the West Coast could hire the PLA and just drive out the nazis make up most of the population in the east of the three states, I would consider it as good as redeemed.
As if ripped from the TrueAnon podcast itself
The case was brought by a couple from Idaho, Michael and Chantell Sackett, who were stopped by the EPA when trying to build a house on a wetland in the state.
The plaintiffs have a history.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security received texts from Sackett’s phone in October 2013 in response to a fake advertisement promising sex with underage girls. Sackett negotiated via text for an hour of sex with a 12-year-old, according to an affidavit filed by Homeland Security Agent Darrik Trudell.
Sackett arrived at a negotiated meeting place, got into a vehicle with an undercover agent, then left the vehicle after discussing the possibility of having anal sex with the child, according to Trudell’s statement. He was subsequently arrested and federal agents seized two smartphones.
👁️👁️👁️
Remember to :vote: in 2024! It's the most important election of our lifetime, and demarcates the choice between building pipelines that dump PFOAs directly into wetlands or having trucks dump the chemicals instead!
So pretty much unless your state has an active environmental department you're going to be enjoying so much lead and BPA in your water supply?
oh we're playin by Pelican Brief rules? okay :the-doohickey:
