How Big Ag Thwarted Wetlands Protections in Illinois and Iowa

How Big Ag Thwarted Wetlands Protections in Illinois and Iowa

Two years ago this week, the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. the Environmental Protection Agency significantly limited the agency’s ability to use the 1972 Clean Water Act to safeguard the nation’s wetlands from pollution and destruction. The decision determined that wetlands — waterlogged habitats that help filter water and sequester carbon — must be indistinguishable from larger bodies of water to be eligible for protection under the la…