From Greenwire – The longest-running U.S. environmental regulatory conundrum can be summed up in a question: What wetlands are protected by the 1972 Clean Water Act?

The government has yet to come up with a definition that will hold up in court.

And now, it’s President Biden’s turn to try.

Expectations and stakes are high. Conservationists expect a rule that extends protections to at least as many waterways and wetlands as one offered by the Obama administration. On the side are developers, energy companies and agribusiness groups that want a rule as narrow as — or narrower than — one from former President Trump. One thing’s certain: lawsuits. “The coverage of wetlands under the Clean Water Act has been fiercely controversial from day one, and it’s never changed,” said Pat Parenteau, a professor at Vermont Law School. “Whatever Biden does is going to be subject to litigation, and it’s probably going to have to go back to the Supreme Court. It’ll be years, but it’ll have to go back there. I don’t think people aren’t going to give up.” (more)