You can utilize the provided talking points as a foundation for your letter to the editor (LTE) regarding the Sackett decision’s impact on New Mexico. Please be sure to tailor your perspective using these points as a starting place. For additional guidance and support in crafting your letter, reach out to Tricia, New Mexico Wild’s Senior Water Policy Analyst, at tricia@nmwild.org. We’ve also developed a helpful “how-to” resource that guides you through the LTE writing process, which you can check out here.
- The Clean Water Act is one of our most fundamental and critical environmental protection laws that has helped to safeguard our most precious resource, water, for over 50 years;
- The Clean Water Act was developed through broad bipartisan support, clean water for generations to come is not a partisan issue;
- The Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett, and subsequent Revised Definition of Waters of the United States rule, rolls back decades of critical protections for some of our most important waterways;
- The decision removes protections not only for many wetlands across the nation but also for most ephemeral and many intermittent streams. These waterways that are wet only portions of the year make up over 90% of New Mexico’s surface water, putting us directly in the crosshairs of the impacts of this decision;
- Wetlands play critical roles in ecosystems, providing flood control, improving water quality, and serving as important habitats for native and imperiled species;
- The harshest impacts of this decision will be experienced by frontline communities, indigenous communities, communities of color, and those communities already vulnerable to pollution. The impacts of climate change that are already being experienced across New Mexico will only exacerbate these effects;
- There is no time to waste! Our state water agencies and legislative leadership must act now to ensure that New Mexico is prepared to protect our waters at the state level now that a vast majority have lost protections under the Clean Water Act;
- We need our New Mexico legislators to be champions for clean water and ensure the New Mexico Environment Department is resourced to set up a state-led surface water quality permitting program as soon as possible;
- We need our Congressional delegation to stand up for clean water and work at the federal level to reverse these devastating changes to the Clean Water Act.
