(Press-News.org) The 1972 Clean Water Act protects the "waters of the United States" but does not precisely define which streams and wetlands this phrase covers, leaving it to presidential administrations, regulators, and courts to decide. As a result, the exact coverage of Clean Water Act rules is difficult to estimate.
New research led by a team at the University of California, Berkeley, used machine learning to more accurately predict which waterways are protected by the Act. The analysis found that a 2020 Trump administration rule removed Clean Water Act protection for one-fourth of US wetlands and one-fifth of US streams, and also deregulated 30% of watersheds that supply drinking water to household taps.
“Using machine learning to understand these rules helps decode the DNA of environmental policy,” said author Joseph Shapiro, an associate professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at UC Berkeley. “We can finally understand what the Clean Water Act actually protects.”
Prior analyses assumed that streams and wetlands sharing certain geophysical characteristics were regulated, without scrutinizing data on what was actually regulated — an approach the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers called, “highly unreliable.”
The researchers trained a machine learning model to predict 150,000 jurisdictional decisions by the Army Corps. Each Corps decision interprets the Clean Water Act for one site and rule. The model predicts regulation across the U.S. under the Trump rule and its predecessor, the Supreme Court’s Rapanos ruling, which had previously guided Corps decisions.
The research found that the 2020 rule deregulated 690,000 stream miles, more than every stream in California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas combined. The wetlands deregulated under the 2020 rule provided over $250 billion in flood prevention benefits to nearby buildings, the study estimated.
"This game of regulatory ping-pong has staggering effects on environmental protection," said author Simon Greenhill, a Ph.D. candidate at UC Berkeley.
The study estimates that the model’s predictions could save over $1 billion annually in permitting costs for regulators and developers by providing immediate estimates of the probability that a site is regulated, rather than waiting months through the uncertain permitting process.
After this study’s data, the 2023 Biden White House rule expanded Clean Water Act jurisdiction and the Supreme Court’s 2023 Sackett decision then contracted it. Once Sackett is fully implemented, this machine learning methodology can clarify its scope.
END
White House rule dramatically deregulated wetlands, streams and drinking water
Machine learning reveals which streams and wetlands are protected — or not — by changing Clean Water Act regulations
2024-01-25
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
How an ant invasion led to lions eating fewer zebra in a Kenyan ecosystem
2024-01-25
The invasion of non-native species can sometimes lead to large and unexpected ecosystem shifts, as Douglas Kamaru and colleagues demonstrate in a unique, careful study that traces the links between big-headed ants, acacia trees, elephants, lions, zebras, and buffalo at a Kenyan conservancy. The invasive big-headed ant species disrupted a mutualism between native ants and the region’s thorny acacia trees, in which the native ants protected the trees from grazers in exchange for a place to live. Through a combination of observations, experimental plots, and animal tracking at Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kamaru et al. followed the ecosystem chain reaction prompted by this disruption. ...
Total organic carbon concentrations measured over Canadian oil sands reveal huge underestimate of emissions
2024-01-25
New measurements of total gaseous organic carbon concentrations in the air over the Athabasca oil sands in Canada suggest that traditional methods of estimating this pollution can severely underestimate emissions, according to an analysis by Megan He and colleagues. Using aircraft-based measurements, He et al. conclude that the total gaseous organic carbon emissions from oil sands operations exceed industry-reported values by 1900% to over 6300% across the studied facilities. “Measured facility-wide emissions represented approximately 1% of extracted petroleum, resulting in total organic ...
Machine learning model identifies waters protected under different interpretations of the U.S. Clean Water Act
2024-01-25
The U.S. Clean Water Act is a critically important part of federal water quality regulation, but the act does not define the exact waters that fall under its jurisdiction. Now, Simon Greenhill and colleagues have developed a machine learning model that helps to clarify which waters are protected from pollution under the United States’ Clean Water Act, and how recent rule changes affect protection. The model demonstrates that the waters protected under the act differ substantially depending on whether the act’s regulations follow a 2006 U.S. Supreme Court ruling or a 2020 White House rule. Under the 2006 Rapanos Supreme Court ruling, the model suggests that the Clean ...
Gamma ray observations of a microquasar demonstrate electron shock acceleration
2024-01-25
Observations of gamma rays, emitted by relativistic jets in a microquasar system, demonstrate the acceleration of electrons by a shock front, reports a new study. The microquasar SS 433 is a binary system made up of a compact object, probably a black hole, and a supergiant star. The black hole pulls material off the star and ejects plasma jets, which move at close to the speed of light. The High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) is an array of five telescopes in Namibia that observe gamma rays. The H.E.S.S. ...
Astrophysical jet caught in a “speed trap”
2024-01-25
The science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke selected his own seven wonders of the world in a BBC television series in 1997. The only astronomical object he included was SS 433. It had attracted attention already in the late 1970s due to its X-ray emission and was later discovered to be at the center of a gas nebula that is dubbed the manatee nebula due to its unique shape resembling these aquatic mammals.
SS 433 is a binary star system in which a black hole, with a mass approximately ten times that of the Sun, and a star, with a similar mass but occupying a much larger volume, orbit each other with ...
Experts call for major shift in international decision-making to tackle ‘devastating’ impact of urban expansion and avoid ‘planetary catastrophe’
2024-01-25
Leading scientists are today calling for an urgent step change in global governance to save the future of worldwide cities and the planet at large.
Cities are growing at an unprecedented rate, putting overwhelming pressures on exploited land, scarce resources, and fragile ecosystems. The bold proposals, led by experts from the Universities of Bristol, Oxford and Yale, are set out in a Science journal article, proposing a new global advisory system to address the alarming impacts of urban expansion. This system would fulfil a similar function as the Intergovernmental ...
Teaching nature to break man-made chemical bonds
2024-01-25
For the first time, scientists have engineered an enzyme that can break stubborn man-made bonds between silicon and carbon that exist in widely used chemicals known as siloxanes, or silicones. The discovery is a first step toward rendering the chemicals, which can linger in the environment, biodegradable.
"Nature is an amazing chemist, and her repertoire now includes breaking bonds in siloxanes previously thought to evade attack by living organisms," says Frances Arnold, the Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biochemistry at Caltech and winner of the 2018 Nobel ...
Tiny ant species disrupts lion’s hunting behavior
2024-01-25
What makes the little old ant think he can disrupt the life of an African lion?
Researchers say it’s more than just high hopes.
In a study published today in the journal Science, a team of scientists reports that a tiny and seemingly innocuous invasive ant species is changing tree cover in an East African wildlife area, making it harder for lions, the world’s most iconic predator, to hunt its preferred prey, zebra.
“These tiny invaders are cryptically pulling on the ties that bind an African ecosystem together, determining who is eaten and ...
West Nile virus emergence and spread in Europe found to be positively associated with agricultural activities
2024-01-25
The spread of West Nile virus in Europe is strongly linked to agricultural activities, urbanization, and bird migration, according to a modelling study published January 25, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Lu Lu from the University of Edinburgh, UK, and collaborators belonging to a large European collaborative consortium under the VEO (Versatile Emerging infectious disease Observatory) project.
West Nile virus outbreaks have occurred in birds (the natural hosts and reservoirs for the virus), livestock, and ...
The underground network: Decoding the dynamics of plant-fungal symbiosis
2024-01-25
The intricate dance of nature often unfolds in mysterious ways, hidden from the naked eye. At the heart of this enigmatic tango lies a vital partnership: the symbiosis between plants and a type of fungi known as arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. New groundbreaking research, recently published in the journal Science, delves into this partnership, revealing key insights that deepen our understanding of plant-AM fungi interactions and could lead to advances in sustainable agriculture.
AM fungi live within plant root cells, forming a unique alliance with ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Study links wind-blown dust from receding Salton Sea to reduced lung function in area children
Multidisciplinary study finds estrogen could aid in therapies for progressive multiple sclerosis
Final day of scientific sessions reveals critical insights for clinical practice at AAO-HNSF Annual Meeting and OTO EXPO
Social adversity and triple-negative breast cancer incidence among black women
Rapid vs standard induction to injectable extended-release buprenorphine
Galvanizing blood vessel cells to expand for organ transplantation
Common hospice medications linked to higher risk of death in people with dementia
SNU researchers develop innovative heating and cooling technology using ‘a single material’ to stay cool in summer and warm in winter without electricity
SNU researchers outline a roadmap for next-generation 2D semiconductor 'gate stack' technology
The fundamental traditional Chinese medicine constitution theory serves as a crucial basis for the development and application of food and medicine homology products
Outfoxed: New research reveals Australia’s rapid red fox invasion
SwRI’s Dr. Chris Thomas named AIAA Associate Fellow
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) funding for research on academic advising experiences of Division I Black/African American student-athletes at minority serving institutions
Johri developing artificial intelligence literacy among undergraduate engineering and technology students
Boston Children’s receives a $35 million donation to accelerate development of therapeutic options for children with brain disorders through the Rosamund Stone Zander and Hansjoerg Wyss Translational
Quantum crystals offer a blueprint for the future of computing and chemistry
Looking beyond speech recognition to evaluate cochlear implants
Tracking infectious disease spread via commuting pattern data
Underweight children cost the NHS as much per child as children with obesity, Oxford study finds.
Wetland plant-fungus combo cleans up ‘forever chemicals’ in a pilot study
Traditional Chinese medicine combined with peginterferon α-2b in chronic hepatitis B
APS and SPR honor Dr. Wendy K. Chung with the 2026 Mary Ellen Avery Neonatal Research Award
The Gabriella Miller Kids First Data Resource Center (Kids First DRC) has launched the Variant Workbench
Yeast survives Martian conditions
Calcium could be key to solving stability issues in sodium-ion batteries
Can smoother surfaces prevent hydrogen embrittlement?
Heart rate changes predict depression treatment success with magnetic brain stimulation
Genetics pioneer transforms global depression research through multi-omics discoveries
MDMA psychiatric applications synthesized: Comprehensive review examines PTSD treatment and emerging therapeutic indications
Psychedelics offer new therapeutic framework for stress-related psychiatric disorders
[Press-News.org] White House rule dramatically deregulated wetlands, streams and drinking waterMachine learning reveals which streams and wetlands are protected — or not — by changing Clean Water Act regulations