The Environmental Protection Agency calls wetlands “organic supermarkets” because of the abundance of food they provide for a wide range of species. About 40 percent of all plants and animals depend on wetlands for part of their life cycle. These ecosystems also filter drinking water, mitigate the force of flooding, and store large amounts of carbon dioxide – functions that make them essential to efforts to combat climate change. But the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers are now moving to roll back federal protections for the nation’s wetlands and waterways, potentially leaving millions of acres of habitat in Illinois and the Midwest vulnerable to digging up, filling in or paving over.
At the heart of the proposal announced last week is a new, stricter definition of the long-debated legal term “waters of the United States,” the federal guideline that determines which bodies of water are protected under the Clean Water Act of 1972. The proposal codifies a 2023 Supreme Court decision that limits federal protection to wetlands that are so inseparable from larger, relatively permanent bodies of water like streams, rivers and lakes that we can’t tell where one ends and the other begins. Under the proposed rule, wetlands must contain water during the “rainy season” and must be connected to a major body of water during that season. In fact, the new definition excludes seasonal streams and wetlands, which remain dry for much of the year.
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“We envision that up to 85 percent of the nation’s wetlands will lose their protected status under the Clean Water Act,” said Andrew Wetzler, senior vice president for nature at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
A 2025 analysis by a nonprofit environmental group found that about 70 million of the 84 million acres of wetlands across the country are at risk. Under current regulations, developers must obtain a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers before destroying a wetland to ensure environmentally friendly practices. The new regulations will eliminate the need for a federal permit to build on wetlands, allowing developers to operate with minimal environmental oversight, according to Wetzler.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin defended the decision in a statement, saying it “protects the nation’s navigable waters from pollution, advances cooperative federalism by holding states accountable, and will lead to economic growth across the country.” Agricultural, chemical and mining industry groups also celebrated the EPA’s push to narrow federal water protections.
“The Supreme Court clearly ruled several years ago that the government had overreached in its interpretation of what fell within the federal guidelines,” read a statement from Zippy Duval, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation. “We are still reviewing the entire rule, but we are pleased that it finally addresses these concerns and takes steps to provide much-needed clarity.”
When Europeans settled the region in the 1700s, Illinois was home to more than 8 million acres of wetlands. The state has since lost about 90 percent of this land to agriculture, development and urbanization. Illinois wetlands alone provide $419 million in residential flood protection each year, according to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Since the Supreme Court ruling gutted federal protections for wetlands, states like Colorado have passed their own laws to safeguard their threatened ecosystems. Illinois lawmakers have attempted to introduce similar legislation, but have not yet been successful.
“The vast majority of Illinois wetlands do not have federal protection,” said Robert Hirschfeld, director of water policy at the Prairie Rivers Network. “The loss of the federal Clean Water Act means it’s open season for wetlands. »
A recent study from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found that reducing wetland protections could endanger the vast majority of the state’s declining wetlands.
“We determined that about 72 percent of Illinois wetlands, or about 700,000 acres, no longer meet the criteria for continuous surface connection to Illinois’ relatively permanent waters,” said Chelsea Peters, a doctoral student in wetland ecology at the University of Illinois and lead author of the study. “So they are not protected by the Clean Water Act. »
This figure could increase depending on how regulators define humidity requirements. “The second best estimate is 90 percent,” she said.
The proposal still has a long way to go before being finalized. The EPA opened a 45-day comment period to allow the public to provide feedback on the proposed change. The EPA will consider these public comments before finalizing the rule changes as early as the first quarter of next year.
Editor’s note: The Natural Resources Defense Council is a Grist advertiser. Advertisers have no role in Grist’s editorial decisions.
