Love That Dirty Water

Two recent Supreme Court decisions have called into question the EPA's jurisdiction to regulate certain waterways under the Clean Water Act. The act gives the EPA jurisdiction over "navigable waters," which has been interpreted fairly broadly in the past. Now, the Court has suggested that the term does not refer to "waterways that are entirely within one state, creeks that sometimes go dry, and lakes unconnected to larger water systems."

The EPA is now hesitant to prosecute, shelving or discontinuing 1500 major cases over the past four years.

Furthermore, these waterways that are now questionably outside the EPA's jurisdiction provide drinking water for over a third of all Americans. Granted, drinking water is treated before it is distributed, but it should be the responsibility of the polluter to clean up the water, not the public utility.

You can read more here.