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> Last month, a U.S. Supreme Court decision struck down federal protections for wetlands covering tens of millions of acres across the country, leaving no regul

• HWR_14 3y ago
  Most wetlands are connected via subsurface connections. About half.
  • throwway120385 3y ago
    Which makes sense because water flows underground.
    • JumpCrisscross 3y ago
      It also makes it impossible for someone to decide ex ante if their property is a wetland, a problem with the current process SCOTUS called out. Namely, the government wouldn’t tell you if your property was a wetland until after it thought you’d violated the law.
      • saalweachter 3y ago
        Is this really the case? I can look up a map of what the State and Federal government consider a wetland on my property. If I need to do eg construction within 100 feet of such an area on the map, I'm supposed to call in the local DEC and they -- for free -- come in and tell me the boundaries of the wetland based on local vegetation. Isn't that how it works everywhere?
        • JumpCrisscross 3y ago
          > Is this really the case? Yes. The Army Corps of Engineers "controls permits for the discharge of dredged or fill material into covered waters... The costs of obtaining such a permit are 'significant,' and both agencies have admitted that 'the permitting process can be arduous, expensive, and long.' ...Success is also far from guaranteed, as the Corps has asserted discretion to grant or deny permits based on a long, nonexclusive list of factors..." The fact that "agencies never defined exactly what they regarded as the 'full extent of their authority," instead encouaraging "local field agents to make decisions on a case-by-case basis" is specifically called out. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/21-454_4g15.pdf https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/21-454_4g15.pdf
          • saalweachter 3y ago
            > Namely, the government wouldn’t tell you if your property was a wetland until after it thought you’d violated the law.
            • JumpCrisscross 3y ago
              From page 14: "What are landowners to do if they want to build on their property? The EPA recommends asking the Corps for a jurisdictional determination, which is a written decision on whether a particular site contains covered waters. But the Corps maintains that it has no obligation to provide jurisdictional determinations, and it has already begun announcing exceptions to the legal effect of some previous determinations."
      • deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]