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By Amy Cooperstein, 3L Staff, Fordham Environmental Law Review Journal<\/p>\n
In 2020, uncertainty is ubiquitous.\u00a0 This includes uncertainty in the future of environmental regulation.\u00a0 One might view the replacement of environmental protectionist Ruth Bader Ginsberg with Amy Coney Barrett as consequential.\u00a0 She twice wrote majority opinions while on the Seventh Circuit limiting the application of the Clean Water Act.\u00a0 One \u201creversed an earlier ruling that found 13 acres of wetlands in Illinois fell under Clean Water Act protections<\/a>,\u201d and the second held \u201cthat a citizen group challenging the location of the planned Obama Presidential Center in Chicago did not have legal standing<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n On the other hand, the Biden administration prioritizes an expansive application of environmental protection. Biden is likely to reinstate the critical protections gutted by the Trump administration for lakes, rivers, and streams, and will remain committed to protecting \u201cdrinking water from toxic PFAS chemicals, which have already contaminated the drinking water of millions of Americans<\/a>.\u201d Notably, his \u201csupport for clean water goes back to his early days in the Senate, when he co-sponsored the Ocean Dumping Act of 1988, which prohibited dumping of sewage and sludge.\u201d<\/p>\n The public trust doctrine has historically guaranteed \u201ca public right to commercial navigation and fishing on navigable waters<\/a>.\u201d There have been proposals to expand the doctrine to upland resources, including wildlife, but so far it has been limited to public uses of waters<\/a>. In practice, \u201can expanded public trust doctrine increases the power of the courts and puts courts in the position of overriding the actions of the legislative and executive branches of government.\u201d A Biden administration could push the doctrine beyond just waters.<\/p>\n