Colorado legislators are taking a bold step to protect wetlands and streams by that will issue permits for activities such as road-building and homebuilding while monitoring impacts on waterways. Editor Jerd Smith of wrote about it for the Colorado Sun and joined us to discuss.
aims to balance development and environmental protection, and address potential implications for the state's water management practices.
Smith told KUNC the , which passed in its current form in 1972, sought to define what bodies of water should be federally protected. The way the act is interpreted can vary widely from one region to another.
"It's been incredibly difficult for the country to arrive at a consensus," Smith said.
In May 2023, that wetlands and streams that don't flow continually no longer have protection under the Clean Water Act.
"(The Colorado Legislature) enacted a bill that will protect wetlands and streams in the state and they will issue permits, keeping an eye on activities such as road building, homebuilding anything that impacts streams or wetlands across the state," Smith told KUNC.
Smith said the crux of legal disputes over the Clean Water Act center on what can be called a "navigable stream".
"In the east, on the Mississippi, the Ohio, the Missouri, the Delaware — these rivers all float big boats," Smith said. "Back in the early days of the country, old, old laws that date back to that time thought of streams as only those that can carry this kind of traffic."
Homebuilders, engineering firms, ranchers and farmers often have conflicts with the definition of waterways under the Clean Water Act.
"There has always been a huge amount of concern that expanding the definition of U.S. waters — waters of the U.S., as they call them — would be harmful to those industries," Smith told KUNC. "At the same time, there's a growing awareness, obviously, as the country has spread out and now encompasses this huge semi-arid region in the West."
House Bill 1379 passed earlier this month. Now it's awaiting Gov. Jared Polis's signature. Colorado's General Assembly is the first state legislature to respond to the federal wetlands ruling by passing protective measures.
