Freshwater Wetlands Stewardship Act
- 2 days ago
- 1 min read
The Freshwater Wetlands Stewardship Act was signed into law by Delaware Governor Matt Meyer in a ceremony on July 21, 2026, at the Russell Peterson Wildlife Refuge in Wilmington.
The bill passed the state legislature on July 1. We guess it took the governor three weeks to organize a photo-op to sign the bill into law. Senate Bill 9, which was sponsored by state senator Stephanie Hansen and state representative Debra Heffernan, is meant to close regulatory gaps that resulted from a Supreme Court decision in 2023. In the past it was left to the Corps of Engineers to regulate non-tidal wetlands in Delaware. The Supreme Court decision, Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, ruled that the Clean Water Act only covers wetlands and permanent bodies of water that have a "continuous surface connection" to traditional interstate navigable waters.
The legislation provides a significant (but not absolute) level of protection for more than 75,000 acres of Delaware's freshwater wetlands that lost federal safeguards.
DNREC has been tasked to turn this law into a set of regulations and permitting requirements, much in the way it regulates tidal wetlands. Let's hope the regulations are well-written.
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