POTUS v. WOTUS

 Coming to a Head--
The Crisis that Inspired this Blog is Now Upon Us

Back in August 2024, I published my first post of this blog, "Urgent Need for Participation in Protecting Sacred Places with Water." In his first term, President Trump sought to remove some of the protections on the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) and later, during the Biden administration, the Supreme Court further weakened it. Today the New York Times reports that the EPA is being directed to kneecap the Act even further, so that about 55 percent of America's drinking water will come from unprotected and unregulated sources. (This is a gift article, so you can read it whether or not you have a NYT subscription.)

Farmers, home builders, real estate developers, oil drillers and petrochemical manufacturers are overjoyed. For the rest of us, clean water will become scarcer and testing and treatment costs will climb higher. What about the forests, plants, wildlife, fish, birds, insects and other living beings? As usual with this administration, they don't vote so they don't count. 


Andrew Wetzler, senior vice president for nature at the Natural Resources Defense Council was quoted in the article as saying, “The administration is preparing to rip away protections from the vast majority of wetlands in the United States, which are the waters that protect our communities from floods, help filter drinking water and provide habitat for millions of birds and fish.” 

What can concerned citizens do about this crisis? As usual, there will be a 45-day comment period where people can enter their opinions into the Federal Register (it hasn't been announced yet). But as with drilling in the Alaskan tundra and knocking down part of the White House, the feds are likely to look the other way as bulldozers appear in the very near future. We need to express our outrage more publicly in a Reinstate Jimmy Kimmel or Release the Epstein Files way. 

Also, my state of Colorado began last year to write our own water regulations. (You can read all about it in the blog). This is significant because Colorado is the headwaters for a huge chunk of the population, for everyone and everything that depends on clean water to thrive. 


This is an informational blog about Sacred Places. Welcome and enjoy. I intend to make this place accessible to all who want to preserve and learn about Native American sacred places and trees. In the meantime, you can participate by commenting, sending your contributions to me, and linking to this site. There is much more to come.  

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