Policy Backgrounders
Our Privacy Policy has been updated! The Conference Board uses cookies to improve our website, enhance your experience, and deliver relevant messages and offers about our products. Detailed information on the use of cookies on this site is provided in our cookie policy. For more information on how The Conference Board collects and uses personal data, please visit our privacy policy. By continuing to use this Site or by clicking "OK", you acknowledge our privacy policy and consent to the use of cookies. 

Geopolitics Hub

Policy Backgrounders

CED’s Policy Backgrounders provide timely insights on prominent business and economic policy issues facing the nation.

Clean Water Act Decision Signals Sharp Regulatory Restraint

June 02, 2023

Last Thursday, the US Supreme Court once again reduced the Environmental Protection Agency’s powers to issue regulations under environmental laws, in this case the Clean Water Act. The Court ruled 5-4 that EPA had exceeded its powers to determine the meaning of the phrase “waters of the United States” in attempting to count most wetlands under that definition.

  • The Court overturned an earlier decision stating that wetlands could be regulated if they have a “significant nexus” to waters such as rivers and lakes that clearly fall under the Act.
  • Under the Court’s new standard, the Clean Water Act will apply only to wetlands with a “continuous surface connection” to regulated waters so as to be “as a practical matter indistinguishable” from them.
  • This case, along with last year’s decision in West Virginia v. EPA, could be a harbinger of a broader effort to restrict how agencies interpret Federal statutes.

Download Committee for Economic Development

Authors

Dr. Lori Esposito Murray

Dr. Lori Esposito Murray

Senior Fellow for National Security & Managing Director of CEO Programs

Read Bio

John Gardner

John Gardner

Vice President, Public Policy

Read Bio

search Icon
Newest First
search Icon
search Icon
filterMobImage

Publications

Global LEI Report

Global LEI Report

October 30, 2024 | Report

Global Forecast Update

Global Forecast Update

October 23, 2024 | Article

Recession & Growth Trackers

Recession & Growth Trackers

October 21, 2024 | Database

Webcasts, Podcasts and Videos

CEO Roundtable: Policy Priorities for 2025

December 12, 2024 12:00 PM ET (New York)

Press Releases / In the News

PRESS RELEASE

CED Provides Plan to Reach Net Zero While Ensuring Economic Growth

May 16, 2024

PRESS RELEASE

US CEOs Rank National Debt as the Top Geopolitics Threat

January 11, 2024

IN THE NEWS

A critical-moment-to-evaluate-US-China-ties-Raimondo's Trip

August 29, 2023

PRESS RELEASE

CEOs Can View Operational Resilience as an Advantage

August 16, 2023

BRIEF

Germany’s technical recession signals sluggish growth ahead

May 30, 2023

BRIEF

How CEOs and Boards Can Enhance Digital Trust

April 04, 2023

✕
hubCircleImage