A 2023 Supreme Court decision revoked the Clean Water Act’s power to protect approximately two-thirds of the nation’s wetlands and millions of miles of rain-fed streams. Many states don’t have their own legal protections for these waters. In states with strong laws, polluting industries are taking action to weaken them.
The National Wildlife Federation created this toolkit to help our affiliates and other state groups leverage the public’s longstanding concern for clean water to generate local media coverage of the issue, with an ultimate goal of passing or protecting strong state laws safeguarding these waters.
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Clean Water 101
Learn more about what the decision specifically says, what the loss of these protections will mean, and get resources for understanding your state’s laws.
Messaging Guidance
Clean sources of drinking water and healthy waters for recreation have long been one of the public’s top priorities. Here’s a quick overview of messaging tips that will help you frame protecting these waters in a way that will resonate — and avoid getting buried in wonky acronyms.
Streams Study Highlights Risks to Drinking Water
The Sackett decision limits Clean Water Act protections to “relatively permanent” waters — eliminating protections for many streams that only flow in response to rain.
A groundbreaking study in Science gives us specifics on how much water in each river system in the lower 48 comes from these rainfed streams. You can use this new, highly credible study to tap into the public’s top concern: drinking water.
Wetland Impacts in Your State
There has been surprisingly little local media coverage of the impacts of the Sackett decision in each state or region — probably because no one has made it simple for local reporters to understand. Here are resources to help you and your organization provide local context on what this could mean for wetlands in your state — and for the people and wildlife that depend on them.
Talking to Outdoor Media
The waters that have lost protections are essential for healthy fish and waterfowl populations. This video walks you through how to reach out to outdoor media — particularly outdoor radio — and how you can frame this message so it resonates with conservatives who love the outdoors.
State & Local Protection Strategies
There are a number of tools and programs outside of the Clean Water Act that can be leveraged or used to increase protections for wetlands at the state and local level in the aftermath of Sackett. While these are imperfect tools they will be important to use, especially where it is difficult to pass legislation.
See the following fact sheets for more information:
Questions or feedback?
Contact: Lacey McCormick
512-610-7765