Environment

May 28 (ZFJ) — The federal government can only regulate wetlands with “a continuous surface connection” to adjacent “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act (1972), ruled the Supreme Court on Thursday, May 25, in Sackett v. EPA (21-454). The CWA is the primary federal law regulating water pollution and prohibits the “discharge of any pollutant,” including “chemical wastes,” “rock,” and “sand,” into “navigable waters,” defined as “the waters of the United States, including the territorial seas.

May 18 (ZFJ) — There is a 66% chance that the annual global surface temperature will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels before 2027, said the World Meteorological Organization on Wednesday. The UN weather agency also predicted that there is a 98% chance that one of the next five years will be the warmest on record. “These new highs will be fuelled almost completely by the rise of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, but the anticipated development of the naturally-occurring El Niño event will also release heat from the tropical Pacific,” said Dr.