The Democratic Party in Illinois moves to protect Waterways & Wetlands

 Last year, the scummy SCOTUS ruled that the US Constitution and Clean Water Act aren't valid because the Supreme Six Injustices deem it to be so.

The fact the Clean Water Act was 50 years old or the that the first legal cases decided by the old SCOTUS dates back 200 years ago, or that the right of the Federal Government to regulate waterways is written into the very Constitution is irrelevant;   The Scummy Supreme Six Injustices are aligned with the rapacious Rich and those who despoil the Nation.

The Clean Water Act of 1972 survived decades of litigation from opponents seeking to limit the authority of federal agencies like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to regulate the Waters of the United States, typically referred to as WOTUS. Before the wetlands decision, the Supreme Court upheld the definition of WOTUS to not only include navigable bodies of waters but also adjacent wetlands with meaningful hydrological connections. 

For over a decade, Michael and Chantell Sackett, an Idaho couple, challenged this definition before the Supreme Court twice. In 2004, they bought a lakeside property with the plans to build a home on the site. The couple began excavation without applying for the appropriate permitting to develop on top of a wetland and the EPA stopped the project. 

Last May, in a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Sacketts.

You might have missed this ruling seeing as the Reactionary Court has been pushing through all manner of regressive bills designed to return the United States to its' Roots as a Slave Owning Kleptocracy built upon white supremacy and fundamentalist hyporcisy but, the Injustices financial backers and benefactors also have a eye on undermining any regulation which stymies their ability to despoil the land, strip it of it's natural beauty and reap the financial rewards.

All the meanwhile, leaving behind a shattered wasteland to be inherited by the meek.

Fortunately, here in Illinois we have a Democratic Legislature which will not simply turn the rivers, lakes, streams, and wetlands over to rapacious billionaires to do with as they wish.

In response to another unjust overreach by this Court, Illinois State Senator Laura Ellman introduced a New Act 30 ILCS 105/5.1015, the Wetlands and Small Streams Protection Act:

to restore protections for wetlands and small streams that were formerly protected from pollution and destruction by the Clean Water Act. Provides provisions concerning: exemptions; wetlands delineation, classification, notification, permits and veto; general permits; appeal of final decisions made by the Department of Natural Resources and judicial review; investigation and enforcement; and county authority. Creates the Wetlands and Small Streams Advisory Committee and establishes duties and rules for the Committee. Creates the Wetlands and Small Streams Protection Fund. Provides for permit review fees. Defines terms. Makes conforming changes in the State Finance Act and the Illinois Environmental Protection Act. Effective immediately.

Marshes, bogs, ponds, streams, and other waterways are not things to be drained, damned, or reclaimed but integral pieces of a functioning landscape, a refugee for wildlife, and repository of natural beauty.

But, the 1% won't be satisfied with the massive gains they've made over the rest of America; the Rich want it all, which is why they know if they put Trump back into power they'll be able to finally eliminate the Middle Class, end the American dream, and shackle the American people into perpetual wage slavery and bondage. 

"I know plenty of you, and you're rich as hell...  And we're going to give you tax cuts."