A representative from the legal firm that fought for deregulation of American wetlands at the U.S. Supreme Court spoke Wednesday in support of a Tennessee bill that would roll back protections for up to 80% of the state’s isolated wetlands.
Tennessee lawmakers are considering a bill that would significantly reduce requirements for development on wetlands, swampy lands that support diverse ecosystems, soak up floodwaters and recharge groundwater.
The state’s current regulations predate the federal Clean Water Act, which imposed the first federal protections for wetlands in the 1970s, requiring developers to compensate for destroying wetlands by preserving or restoring them elsewhere.
But the erosion of federal regulations in the past two years has given states more power to decide how they will define and protect wetlands.
The Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in Sackett v. EPA stripped federal protection from “isolated” wetlands that lack surface connection to water bodies deemed waters of the United States. And the EPA recently announced its intent to scale back federal wetlands regulation to reduce permitting costs for landowners and businesses, according to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, who was appointed in January by President Donald Trump.