| The editorial states: The Obama administration's new guidelines for the Clean Water Act are an important first step in restoring vital legal safeguards to wetlands and streams threatened by development and pollution. The guidelines are opposed by the usual suspects -- real estate interests, homebuilders, farmers, the oil companies. They were welcomed, rightly so, by conservationists and others who have watched in despair as enforcement actions dropped and water pollution levels went up....For nearly three decades, the 1972 act was broadly interpreted by the courts and federal regulators as shielding virtually all the waters of the United States from pollution and unregulated development...Then came two Supreme Court decisions that left uncertain which waterways were protected by the law. Legislation reaffirming the original scope of the law would be the best solution." |
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