Clean Water Act (Part 4): Wetlands v. United States

In the final part of our series on the Clean Water Act, we explore how the last three decades of lawyer-stuff have turned this important environmental legislation into the toothless beast we know today.

A cavalcade of real estate developers and petty officials seek to whittle away at Corps of Engineers new authority to protect our precious wetlands. Waterfowl step-in and hold the frontline of constitutional mandate for almost fifteen years, until they are shot down by a growing conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court. Poop people from Chicago and an asshole named Rapanos are able to convince Justice Any of the Sexual Harassment Ones that, actually, it is NOT wetLand, but rather LANDwet. Don't drink the water in Aberdeen, South Dakota, or lots of other places, honestly.

The rest, as they say, is for the compost bin. Sharpen a f_ckin' pitchfork to this one whydontcha*^.

 

*Jared and James are extremely professional experts with lots of credentials 

^You should therefore accept everything they say as God's Honest Truth About the Environment

 

Links to sources:

Ackerman, Seth. "Failure Is an Option." Jacobin, N239. Fall 2020.

Eller, Donelle. "East Iowa restaurant's 'thick, juicy' breaded pork tenderloin named states best." Des Moines Register. 16 Oct 2020.