Water Pollution And The Supreme Court

The Clean Water Act is weak. Pollution is increasing. And the Environmental Protection Agency is worried.

Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972. The legislation's primary goal was to keep pollution out of drinking water supplies. So the EPA and state agencies started keeping a closer eye on polluters.

According to an article in Sunday's New York Times, the Supreme Court has crippled the Clean Water Act by manipulating the definition of the word "navigable." The Clean Water Act protects all "navigable waters" from pollution, but the Court's decisions  show that it doesn't consider "waterways that are entirely within one state, creeks that sometimes go dry, and lakes unconnected to larger water systems" navigable.

And, according to the article, polluters are taking advantage:

“We are, in essence, shutting down our Clean Water programs in some states,” said Douglas F. Mundrick, an E.P.A. lawyer in Atlanta. “This is a huge step backward. When companies figure out the cops can’t operate, they start remembering how much cheaper it is to just dump stuff in a nearby creek.”