The Biden administration on Tuesday announced a goal to protect and restore 8 million acres of wetlands over the next six years in an effort to counter development pressures and recently weakened federal regulations. The new target seeks to reverse the ongoing loss of U.S. wetlands, which help keep pollutants out of rivers and streams and act as a natural buffer against flooding. Over 60% of wetlands now lack protections under the Clean Water Act for the first time in decades after the Supreme Court curtailed the law’s scope last year. In addition to wetlands, the administration committed to “reconnect, restore, and protect” 100,000 miles of rivers and streams nationwide by 2030. So far, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, and Washington have committed to the new freshwater restoration challenge and partnership, officials said.
Coal-fired power plants would be forced to capture smokestack emissions or shut down under a new rule issued Thursday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). New limits on greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-fired electric plants are the Biden administration’s most ambitious effort yet to roll back planet-warming pollution from the power sector, the nation’s second-largest contributor to climate change. The power plant rule marks the first time the federal government has restricted carbon dioxide emissions from existing coal-fired power plants. Plants that plan to operate beyond 2039 would have to cut or capture 90% of their carbon dioxide emissions by 2032, while plants that are expected to retire by 2039 would be subject to less stringent standards. Plants set to retire by 2032 would not be subject to the new rules. The plan is likely to be challenged by industry groups and Republican-leaning states.
Conservationists lost an appeal to the Ninth Circuit this Wednesday as they attempted to force the federal government to reconsider climate change studies in managing the Glen Canyon Dam and Colorado River. Three environmental groups initially asked the U.S. Department of the Interior to consider emerging climate science and the severe potential of climate change in updating its management plan in 2016 for the Glen Canyon Dam on Lake Powell, which has a water level 3,564 feet above sea level. Experts say the dam will lose hydropower if the water level drops below 3,490 feet.
State wildlife commissioners have broadened protections for a native Southern California fish on the brink of extinction. The California Fish and Game Commission voted unanimously late last week to list Southern California Steelhead as endangered under the state's Endangered Species Act. The listing broadens protections the fish has had since 1997 as a federally designated endangered species. Water agencies in Ventura County and elsewhere have said the state listing could delay projects and potentially limit water supplies.
A group of 22 states led by California and five cities are backing EPA’s new tailpipe emissions rules after 25 Republican-led states sued the agency last week claiming the new regulations were unworkable and unlawful. The lawsuit filed Thursday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia challenges the 2027-2032 model year EPA vehicle emissions rules that aim to cut fleetwide tailpipe emissions for cars and light trucks by nearly 50% over 2026 levels in 2032. California, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, other states, and four cities, including Los Angeles, seek to intervene in the lawsuit saying they could be harmed if the EPA did not require future reductions in harmful vehicle emissions.
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