Climate Fix Blog

Schoolhouse Rock provides the fundamentals of how a bill becomes a law, but what happens after the catchy song ends and the animated video fades to black? 

The reality is that a law is just the starting line. Its impact — like lowering emissions or protecting critical habitat — is the finish line, and the route to get there is often refined in what’s called a rulemaking. Typically, state legislatures outline the basic elements of a law and then turn it over to a relevant state agency with expertise on the topic to establish the details. 

The goal is simple: make sure the law does what it promises. 

These proceedings, hashed out in beige rooms before panels of commissioners, rarely make headlines. But effective rules ultimately determine whether a law protects people, the economy, and our environment, or whether it falls short. 

The rulemaking process gives regulated entities, experts, advocacy organizations, policymakers, and the public the opportunity to weigh in on the specifics of how a law should be implemented, measured, and enforced. It reflects a functioning democracy built on public input and accountability. That’s why WRA’s experts are always deeply engaged in rulemaking across our region. 

During rulemaking proceedings, our seasoned attorneys often:

• Draft proposed rules and make informed policy decisions 

• Represent multiple groups with similar goals 

• Bring forward subject-matter-experts, including WRA staff 

• Cross-examine polluting industries 

• Shine a spotlight on potential loopholes 

• Identify ways to streamline implementation 

• Work closely with agencies and other parties to find compromises and solutions 

• Enhance opportunities for public engagement  

Case Study — Leveraging Rulemaking to Protect Clean Water in the West

In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court stripped federal protections from 63% of the nation’s wetlands and millions of miles of streams. Specifically, the court clawed back safeguards for ephemeral and seasonal streams, wetlands, and other surface waters. It ruled that only relatively permanent waters and wetlands with a “continuous surface connection” to permanent waters would be protected from development and pollution under the Clean Water Act. 

The problem is that most waters in the West — which rely heavily on melting snowpack and seasonal monsoons for moisture — aren’t, in the eyes of the court, permanent enough to be protected. But that doesn’t make these streams and wetlands any less valuable. In fact, they are life-sustaining resources for wildlife, ecosystems, and people all over the region.  

Wetlands, tributaries, and seasonal streams: 

• Filter pollutants 

• Increase water availability 

• Lessen the impacts of flooding 

• Serve as key firebreaks 

• Sustain migrating and breeding wildlife populations  

• Filter clean drinking water that flows to states all over the West  

And without enforceable rules to protect our water, developers could pollute and degrade healthy watersheds with little or no oversight. 

That’s why WRA stepped in and, with the help of our partners, passed bills in both Colorado (House Bill 24-1379) and New Mexico (Senate Bill 21) to stand up state laws that protect critical surface waters. The passage of these bills represented major victories. 

But the laws were only step one. To effectively implement them, both New Mexico and Colorado needed clear regulations developed through rulemaking to ensure the laws delivered real protections for surface waters and wetlands.  

As drought deepens and water demand intensifies, it’s more important than ever to establish clear, evidence-based rules that protect critical waters and the communities and wildlife that depend on them. So, WRA got to work, engaging in both states’ rulemaking processes to make sure our water received real protections, and the laws delivered on their promises.

Colorado

As a headwaters state, Colorado’s streams and wetlands serve as the capillaries that sustain mighty arteries like the Colorado River. After the Sackett v. EPA decision, up to two-thirds of Colorado’s waterways and 97% of its wetlands were suddenly left vulnerable. The state has already lost half its wetlands, and climate change is making devastating drought conditions — like those we’re experiencing today — 14 times more likely.  

Seasonal rains and melting snowpack are an essential source of clean water for Coloradans and seven other downstream states, but those are the very waterways that lost federal protections in 2023. 

Colorado took decisive bipartisan action after the Sackett court decision to protect all state waters, including those suddenly at risk from unregulated dredge-and-fill activities. These human activities include things like establishing an oil and gas drilling site or filling in a wetland to build new development. Without a new state law, developers and industry could have permanently altered Colorado’s waters and wetlands, and the state had little authority to stop them.  

To prevent these losses, WRA helped pass HB 24-1379, enabling Colorado to take over this permitting process. And in 2025, the state’s Water Quality Control Commission set about finalizing the details in a rulemaking. 

Throughout the rulemaking process, WRA spearheaded efforts to secure comprehensive rules to benefit wildlife, habitat, and people. We represented ourselves, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Colorado Wildlife Federation, and the Pew Charitable Trusts. 

Our attorneys focused on protecting seasonal streams, wetlands, and isolated waters, and called upon expert witnesses from WRA’s Western Lands and Healthy Rivers teams to be sure that the final rules fulfilled the law’s core purpose: conserve all of Colorado’s waters and the animals and plants that rely on them. 

We engaged closely with coalition partners and commission staff to create workable rules that delivered real protections, and protections, and provided extensive evidence about what impacts wildlife can tolerate and what will push it to the brink.  

The result: strong, clear rules built for a hotter, drier Colorado. 

Colorado applied its broad definition of “state waters” to make sure the scope of the program reached all surface waters in the state, including the waters left behind by the federal rollbacks. This definition includes isolated pockets of water like prairie potholes, playas, bogs, and fens that are crucial for wildlife.  

As the statute instructs, the state’s new rules are designed to respond to Colorado-specific needs — not vague guidelines from far away bureaucracies — and require consultation with Colorado Parks and Wildlife for proposed projects with the potential to have greater impacts on species and habitat. WRA was also the key architect behind a provision that allows for ongoing public input into the general permitting process to further increase transparency and community engagement. 

After years of work to advocate for and pass legislation, and then coordinate a strong and effective presence at the rulemaking process, we set out to do it again. This time, in New Mexico. 

New Mexico

When the federal government pulled the rug out from under precious water resources, New Mexico was left in a tough spot. The Supreme Court’s decision stripped protections from around 95% of the state’s streams and up to 88% of its wetlands. New Mexicans are intimately familiar with the value of the state’s clean water — how little there is but how much there is to lose. 

New Mexico also needed rules to permit dredge-and-fill activities that could harm surface waters, like in Colorado. To make matters worse, the state was one of just three that still allowed the federal government to control permitting over pollution discharge instead of managing the process itself. The federal government has proven it can’t be relied on to protect the resources unique to the West, so it was critical that New Mexico gained permitting authority over its own waters.  

Senate Bill 21, passed with WRA’s support, gave the state the ability to protect all its surface waters and wetlands, including those that had lost federal protection. It also allowed New Mexico to become the 48th state to take over permitting for pollution discharge into its waters. That meant that the rulemaking process to implement the new law was complex, requiring the state to chart a course for brand-new processes and best practices. 

The 10-day rulemaking took place before the state’s Water Quality Control Commission this June, at a time when 100% of the state was in drought, and the Rio Grande was running dry. The urgency in the room was palpable. 

WRA represented Audubon Southwest, New Mexico Trout Unlimited, New Mexico Wildlife Federation, and Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. 

Throughout the process, we defended the agency’s proposed rule from industry attacks and argued against exclusions and exemptions that would have allowed more pollutants to flow into sensitive habitats. Through the testimony of five expert witnesses, and cross-examination of industry actors, WRA made a strong case to: 

• Protect all state wetlands and streams from pollution and disruption.  

• Safeguard the most sensitive and vulnerable habitats from development by requiring consultation with the newly reformed Department of Wildlife. 

• Streamline the permitting process for groups undertaking voluntary restoration projects that benefit the environment by repairing degraded habitat. 

• Ensure that all permits, including general permits that are issued to smaller-scale projects, are sufficiently protective of wildlife and other aquatic resources. 

The Water Quality Control Commission is expected to create final rules before the end of this year, so our work is far from over. And the federal administration has proposed further cuts to the scope of the Clean Water Act, which again threaten Western states, meaning over 80% of currently protected wetlands and streams in the Lower 48  could again be at risk. WRA remains engaged with state agencies, decision makers, community groups, and wildlife experts to defend clean water and make the case for strong and enforceable rules at the state level.  

While legislative sessions usually get the headlines, it’s rulemaking that delivers results.

That’s why WRA stays engaged long after the signing ceremony ends. From the first policy idea to the implementation details years later, we fight to make sure the West’s people, environment, and economies get the protections they were promised.