Colorado bill would put wetlands under state protection [Video]

COLORADO, USA — Nearly a million acres of wetlands in Colorado could gain state protection after losing federal oversight when the U.S. Supreme Court decided last year that wetlands that lacked direct connection to bodies of water didn’t require Environmental Protection Agency preservations.

The Court decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency redefined the terms by which a body of water can get protection under the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Waters of the United States” rule, part of the Clean Water Act.

Last summer, lawmakers heard from municipal and state officials that Colorado needs to develop its own protections for those wetlands.

Alex Funk, director of water resources and senior counsel for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, said in August that almost 90% of fish and wildlife in Colorado rely on the state’s wetlands at some point during …