Colorado environmental leaders approved landmark water protections in reaction to a U.S. Supreme Court decision that they believed weakened regulations in Western states.
The bipartisan Water Quality Control Commission convened to pass stream and wetland protections that come as the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency pushes for further federal deregulations.
“These rules create a robust program for protecting Colorado waters – including wildlife habitat, recreation opportunities, the role that waters play in flood mitigation, cleaning water and actually increasing water supplies,” said Joro Walker, senior attorney at Western Resource Advocates. She also represented wildlife hunting and angling groups in the WQCC process.
“All those values that Colorado waters bring to the citizens of the state are essentially being protected by this program,” Walker told The Center Square.
The WQCC meeting comes in the middle of a years-long scramble to address critical threats to the Colorado River’s supply.
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