Milestones: America’s streams regain protection

Which waters deserve to be clean?

The most consequential debate over clean water in 21st century America has hinged on the definition of one word: navigable.

On June 19, 2006, a rare 4-1-4 Supreme Court decision muddies the meaning of the 1972 federal Clean Water Act, the primary law governing protection of the “waters of the United States.”

The case was brought by John Rapanos, a Michigan landowner who wanted to pave over wetlands to build a strip mall. When officials told Rapanos he needed a permit under the Clean Water Act, he sued. The case reached the Supreme Court in 2006, and Justice Scalia wrote an opinion that would have drastically scaled back the wetlands and other waterways protected by the Act. Fortunately, most courts since then have been guided by Justice Kennedy’s concurring opinion in the case, which said that waterways are protected under the Act if they have a “significant nexus” to navigable waters. While far better than Scalia’s drastic alternative, the significant nexus test left 20 million acres of wetlands and half of our nation’s streams in legal limbo.

That put downstream larger rivers and lakes — as well as the drinking water for 117 million people — at risk from pollution.

Restoring these protections would become the biggest clean water battle of the next decade and a half.

Winning the Clean Water Rule

After the 2006 ruling, Environment America and other clean water allies urged Congress to restore protections to the nation’s streams and wetlands. However, the opposition of developers, oil and chemical companies and agribusiness stymied action on the issue.

Upon the election of President Obama, Environment America urged his administration to use its existing authority to clarify that — given the intent of Congress for the Clean Water Act to regulate the “waters of the United States” and the scientifically significant nexus between streams that feed rivers, as well as the wetlands that filter pollutants from them — the law must protect all the nation’s surface waters.

We found support within the administration, but such an action would require strong public and political cover as well as scientific and legal backing.

Under the leadership of Margie Alt and John Rumpler, Environment America launched a campaign to win a new Clean Water Rule. John and his team, with assistance from Frontier Group, researched and released a series of reports on water pollution problems, including the impact of clean water protections on 15 major waterways.

Environment America staff and members also held meetings with more than 50 congressional offices, building a firewall against any attempt on Capitol Hill to block or rescind administrative action on the issue.

And across the country, the directors of our state environmental groups, organizers and canvassers helped enlist more than 1,000 leaders (including business owners, elected officials, farmers and health professionals) and 1 million citizens to show their support for the Clean Water Rule.

On May 28, 2015, President Obama announced his approval of the new rule. The New York Times quoted Margie Alt saying “today’s action is the biggest victory for clean water in a decade.”

Then came the Trump administration.

Bridging troubled waters

On Day 1 in office, President Trump vowed to repeal the Clean Water Rule. In 2020, he succeeded — to a point.

On January 23, the administration announced it was replacing the Clean Water Rule with a plan we called the “Dirty Water Rule,” categorically stripping clean water protections from thousands of streams and wetlands — including many of those we helped protect in 2015.

Yet when President Joe Biden took office in 2021, our network’s supporters sent thousands of messages urging his EPA to restore the Clean Water Rule. On June 9, EPA Administrator Michael Regan signaled his intention to do just that.

It’s been a long, bumpy road. But federal protections for the waters of the United States — including half of our wetlands, 2 million miles of streams, and the drinking water of 1 in 3 Americans — are coming back. And America’s waters are — slowly — coming back to life.

About this series: PIRG, Environment America and The Public Interest Network have achieved much more than we can cover on this page. You can find more milestones of our work on clean water below. You can also explore an interactive timeline featuring more of our network’s clean water milestones.