Blogging for a Healthy Gulf

The following is a blog written by Emily N. Donahoe, Legal Intern, from George Washington University Law School Gulf Recovery Network.

On December 11, 2018, the Trump Administration submitted a proposal to drastically revise the Obama-era 2015 “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) Rule. What is WOTUS? And why does this revision to the 2015 WOTUS Rule matter?

Background

The term “WOTUS” stems from the Clean Water Act (CWA), which has the stated objective “to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters.” Since the Act’s creation in 1972, there has been continued confusion about which waters qualify as a “water of the United States” and allow federal authority over. This question was initially left to the Supreme Court in...

The United States Senate on December 17 passed S. 1520, “Modernizing Recreational Fisheries Management Act of 2017.” Kendall Dix, fisheries organizer of Gulf Restoration Network (GRN), released the following statement in response to today’s Senate floor vote.

“From the beginning, GRN’s position has been that any update to the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA), our nation’s landmark fisheries law, should have been done in a comprehensive reauthorization bill.

While we are disappointed that the Senate rushed to take action during the lame duck session, the state of the bill is in better shape now than when it first came out of committee. Many of the poison pills were left on the cutting room floor, but we still have much work to do in the 116th Congress to pass a full reauthorization bill that would actually improve and strengthen the law.

GRN...

The House of Representatives actually got something right. In an age of growing frustration at political divisions that create legislative gridlock, the House did something that most citizens say they want more of: They passed a bipartisan bill. Even better—it’s one that’s good for our environment and the Gulf of Mexico.

In this case, H.R. 5787--the Strengthening Coastal Communities Act-- passed by a landslide vote of 375 – 1. The bill helps to protect coastal areas along the Gulf of Mexico and beyond, using modern mapping techniques to correct and expand the boundaries of the Coastal Barrier Resources System (CBRS). The CBRS consists of hundreds of undeveloped coastal areas along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts where federal taxpayer funds may not be used to subsidize development due to the risky and environmentally-sensitive nature of those areas.

The program has...

Imagine showing up for a day at the beach and being told that you’re on private property and have to leave. That’s what’s happening on Gulf beaches in the Florida panhandle, where the public’s ability to simply dip their toes into the waters of the Gulf is at risk.

The flashpoint in all of this is along a little 26 mile stretch of panhandle coast in Walton County just east of Destin. As the beaches got busier in recent years, Gulf front property owners began to put out ropes and no trespassing signs to keep people off the beaches behind their homes.

Some of these beach areas are indeed privately owned, but the public has never been restricted from freely using them until very recently. That fact has allowed other communities in Florida to establish what is called customary...