美国国家公共电台 NPR--The Supreme Court narrows the scope of the Clean Water Act

The Supreme¹ Court narrows the scope of the Clean Water Act

Transcript²

In a major win for industry and developers, the Supreme Court is significantly limiting the number and type of U.S. waterways that get federal protection.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

We're going to talk about the nation's wetlands now. They're like your kidneys in that they filter the country's water, some of which we drink. They also provide habitats for wildlife, and they help prevent flooding. But under a new ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, more than half of the nation's wetlands no longer have federal protection. NPR's Nathan Rott has been covering this ruling, and he's with us now to tell us more about it.

Good morning, Nathan.

NATHAN ROTT, BYLINE³: Hey. Good morning, Michel.

MARTIN: So walk us through this case that the Supreme Court ruled on yesterday.

ROTT: Yeah. So this was the culmination⁴ of a decadeslong dispute between the Environmental Protection Agency and two property owners, a couple in northern Idaho that wanted to build a house near a lake in, basically, a boggy⁵ area. The issue is that the EPA considers that boggy area to be a protected wetland, meaning that the people would have more hoops⁶ to jump through. The property owners did not want to do that. They argued they shouldn't have to because they thought federal law, the Clean Water Act, never intended to protect boggy areas like the one they wanted to build in. The Supreme Court yesterday agreed.

MARTIN: OK. So remind me, what was the Clean Water Act meant to protect?

ROTT: At the most basic level - right? - it's meant to protect the nation's water. But when you really look into the details of this, it gets really complicated because the Clean Water Act is notoriously vague about which waterways it actually intends to protect. So I won't bore you with all the kind of, like, legal jargon⁷ here, but there is a real question about whether the Clean Water Act just protects big rivers and lakes or if it also includes, you know, seasonal⁸ streams, wetlands like the kind that this couple was looking to build on.

MARTIN: But I take it that the reason we're talking about this is that there's more at stake here than one boggy field.

ROTT: Absolutely. It's why, you know, industry developers, basically all sorts of folks across the country have been so interested in how this would shake out. And it's why the Supreme Court has already weighed in on the Clean Water Act's scope multiple times. An environmental law expert I was talking to yesterday, Cara Horowitz at the University of California Los Angeles, says this ruling that just happened seems different, more lasting⁹, because generally in all cases, the Supreme Court lets federal agencies decide how they want to interpret law.

CARA HOROWITZ: This court is quite explicitly¹⁰ aggregating¹¹ to itself the power to say what the law is and taking discretion¹² away from agencies.

ROTT: Which is something that she says is really alarming because agencies are where subject-matter experts are and the science that helped determine these decisions.

MARTIN: And what does the science tell us about which waters should be protected?

ROTT: What we know today better than we did in 1972, when the Clean Water Act was written, is that waterways are connected not just in ways that we can see, but also in ways that we can't, and that even smaller or temporary bodies of water, you know, a stream that only comes alive after a big rainstorm - those are also really important. A third of the U.S. population gets water from systems that are fed by ephemeral or those kinds of seasonal streams. We also know that many of our water systems are threatened by a warming climate. This is why the EPA under the Biden administration, has been trying to protect most of these waterways. It's why its administrator¹³, Michael Regan, said he's deeply disappointed by yesterday's decision, and it's why a lot of water advocacy groups are now urging state and local agencies to step up to protect waterways themselves in lieu of federal protections.

MARTIN: That's Nathan Rott. He's with NPR's Climate Desk.

Nate, thanks so much.

ROTT: Yeah. Thank you.

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 culmination   

n.顶点；最高潮

参考例句：

• The space race reached its culmination in the first moon walk.太空竞争以第一次在月球行走而达到顶峰。
• It may truly be regarded as the culmination of classical Greek geometry.这确实可以看成是古典希腊几何的登峰造级之作。

5 boggy   

adj.沼泽多的

参考例句：

• Of, resembling, or characterized by a marsh or marshes; boggy. 沼泽般的，湿软的：类似沼泽地的，沼泽地所特有的；多沼泽的。 来自互联网
• The boggy is out of order, would be instead another one! 球车坏了，需要更换一部。 来自互联网

6 hoops   

n.箍( hoop的名词复数 )；（篮球）篮圈；（旧时儿童玩的）大环子；（两端埋在地里的）小铁弓

参考例句：

• a barrel bound with iron hoops 用铁箍箍紧的桶
• Hoops in Paris were wider this season and skirts were shorter. 在巴黎，这个季节的裙圈比较宽大，裙裾却短一些。 来自飘（部分）

7 jargon   

n.术语，行话

参考例句：

• They will not hear critics with their horrible jargon.他们不愿意听到评论家们那些可怕的行话。
• It is important not to be overawed by the mathematical jargon.要紧的是不要被数学的术语所吓倒.

8 seasonal   

adj.季节的，季节性的

参考例句：

• The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
• The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。

9 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

10 explicitly   

ad.明确地，显然地

参考例句：

• The plan does not explicitly endorse the private ownership of land. 该计划没有明确地支持土地私有制。
• SARA amended section 113 to provide explicitly for a right to contribution. 《最高基金修正与再授权法案》修正了第123条，清楚地规定了分配权。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

11 aggregating   

总计达…( aggregate的现在分词 )； 聚集，集合； （使）聚集

参考例句：

• The thesis first promotes based Object Oriented Modeling method-Aggregating & Deriving Mothod. 本文首先提出了基于面向对象思想的建模方法——聚合派生法。
• Multidimensional data cubes are composed of base cube and other cubes aggregating on base cube. 多维立方体由基本立方体和基本立方体的聚集产生的立方体组成。

12 discretion   

n.谨慎；随意处理

参考例句：

• You must show discretion in choosing your friend.你择友时必须慎重。
• Please use your best discretion to handle the matter.请慎重处理此事。

13 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。