The libertarian law firm that helped convince the Supreme Court to shrink the scope of the Clean Water Act is now turning its attention to state water regulations.
Pacific Legal Foundation is out with a new report arguing that states with more protective water rules are not seeing significant improvements in water quality.
The firm hopes the findings will bolster its effort to convince more states to adopt their proposed “Waters of the State Act,” model legislation designed to prohibit state environmental agencies from regulating wetlands and streams no longer covered by federal law.
Known for frequently challenging environmental regulations, Pacific Legal Foundation represented landowners at the center of one of the Supreme Court’s most significant recent environmental cases, Sackett v. EPA. In the 2023 decision, the court ruled 5-4 in favor of a narrower interpretation of the Clean Water Act, resulting in large swaths of wetlands and streams losing federal protections.
