WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, a five-Justice conservative majority of the Supreme Court ruled to gut clean water protections for millions of Americans. The case, Sackett v. EPA, is a corporate polluter-backed effort to dismantle the Clean Water Act by narrowing the definition of the Waters of the United States (WOTUS). The Court’s decision will open millions of acres of wetlands – all formerly protected by the Clean Water Act – to pollution and destruction, including by negating many of President Biden’s wetland protections in his new WOTUS rule released last year. The majority decision – delivered by Justice Alito and joined by Justices Roberts, Thomas, Gorsuch, and Barrett – puts the drinking water supplies of millions of Americans at risk.
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WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, the Senate voted 53-43 to overturn the Biden Administration’s updated Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, which outlines which waters - including small streams, rivers, wetlands, and more - should be protected from pollution and destruction under the Clean Water Act. House Republicans advanced the Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution on WOTUS earlier this month to try to invalidate the rule and prevent future administrations from implementing similar water protections. President Biden is expected to veto the resolution.
VIRTUAL -- This afternoon, as a part of the 2023 United Nations Water Conference, the Sierra Club will be hosting a conversation about decolonizing our waterways featuring Indigenous voices from the Southeastern US. Water is sacred to many tribal communities, tribes, and nations. To be climate resilient, we must fundamentally transform how we value water. Tribes, states, and localities have long contested legal rights to water resources. There are challenges unique to Indigenous communities in the Southeastern United States, yet their voices are rarely heard.
WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, the House Republicans voted to overturn the Biden Administration’s updated Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, which outlines which waters - including small streams, rivers, wetlands, and more - should be protected from pollution and destruction under the Clean Water Act. Late last year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and US Army Corps of Engineers released the updated WOTUS rule, and today, Republicans passed a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to try to invalidate the rule and prevent future administrations from implementing similar water protections. The CRA will move to the Senate for a vote where it would need only a simple majority to pass. The vote
WASHINGTON, DC – After over a decade of contestation, the EPA came to a Final Determination to protect Bristol Bay from Pebble Mine, a proposed copper and gold mine which would have wide-ranging, disastrous social, environmental, and economic impacts to lo
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On Friday, December 30th, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule which defines the various types of waters which fall under the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act in a way that will preserve protections that have been in place for decades.
SALTON SEA, CA — In response to comments by Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona) regarding Colorado River negotiations and federal funding of remediation projects at California’s Salton Sea, the Salton Sea Partnership (Alianza of Coachella Valley, Audubon California, Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, Pacific Institute and Sierra Club) issued the following statement:
WASHINGTON, DC -- Fifty years ago today -- on October 18, 1972 -- Congress passed the Clean Water Act with extraordinary bipartisan support, and in the decades since, the Act has served as our most fundamental tool for protecting our nation’s waters and the communities that rely on them.
WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a fossil fuel and industry backed effort to gut the Clean Water Act by narrowing the definition of Waters of the United States (WOTUS). A negative decision from the Supreme Court could open millions of acres of wetlands and millions of miles of streams – all currently protected by the Clean Water Act – to pollution and destruction.
SEATTLE-- Today, Washington Sen. Patty Murray and Gov. Jay Inslee issued a long-awaited final report evaluating the services of the four lower Snake River dams and their devastating impacts on salmon populations. The report concludes that the current state of salmon recovery projects on the Snake River is unsustainable and will not lead to the recovery of salmon populations, whose numbers have been declining for decades due in large part to the four dams.
The next few weeks could be decisive for the future of the Salton Sea, California’s largest lake. The Army Corps of Engineers is analyzing plans that will shape the next ten years of projects designed to avert the environmental catastrophe at the Sea. At the same time, negotiations among Western states on the dwindling water supply from the Colorado River could severely affect replenishment to the Salton Sea region from its largest historical source of water. The longstanding environmental, economic, and public health problems affecting the Salton Sea because of its dropping water levels are accelerating due to a combination of climate change, changing water use patterns, decades-long delays to projects critical for restoring the Sea, and underinvestment in local infrastructure, harming the communities and wildlife that call the area home.
PORTLAND, OR— Today fishing and conservation groups in long-running litigation to protect endangered salmon and steelhead in the Columbia and Snake Rivers joined with the State of Oregon, Nez Perce Tribe and United States to ask the U.S. District Court to extend a stay of the litigation by up to one year.