The Supreme court is expected to issue a ruling any day that will affect at least half of the wetlands in the United States.
Two group of Michigan landowners are asking the Supreme court to rule on whether the original Clean Water Act was intended to offer protection to wetlands. The court will have to either maintain the current interpretation that imposes restrictions on the use of wetlands close to navigable waters or will strike out the provision in favour of a patchwork of state rules and regulations.
If the Supreme court finds in favour of the Michigan landowners then most of the wetlands will become available for economic development and urban sprawl. This ruling will be a very significant development in environmental protection and its ramifications could even play a role in the reconstruction of New Orleans.
Its interesting to note that in this case themajor environmental organizations and the federal government are on the same side; against the Michigan land developers.
1 comment:
If it's the environmentalists and the government against the developers, this will be a unique opportunity to see exactly how much control big business has over law and politics...
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