How States Are Navigating Shrinking Federal Water Protections and a Fraying Disaster Safety Net

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Written By Danielle Bissett

Co-written by Leanne Spaulding

Welcome to the second installment of our briefing series, “Restoration and Resilience at the Speed of Need,” that acknowledges the challenges to speeding up the implementation of nature-based solutions and reviews policy solutions that have either been implemented or are being proposed. If you missed our first brief, “Nature Moves. Our Rules Don’t. That’s the Problem,” read it here.

The narrowing of federal water protections is creating a regulatory gap, and states are deciding whether or not to fill it. EPIC is interested in accelerating nature-based solutions, such as gray-green-blue hybrid infrastructure and ecological restoration, and the different pathways, or lack thereof, that the federal government and states are exploring in response to the 2023 Sackett vs EPA decision. What seems apparent is that, regardless of political party, policymakers are interested in reducing flood risk. However, some are missing the connection between flood risk, nature- based solutions, and water protection. In this brief, we’re going to connect those dots.

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Danielle Bissett

Danielle Bissett is a Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner and Assistant Director of Restoration Policy at the Environmental Policy Innovation Center, which she joined at the end of 2023. In her current role on the Restoration Team, she applies her practitioner experience to improve permitting processes and policies, accelerating high-quality restoration projects. Before joining EPIC, Danielle led restoration efforts at NYC Parks’ Natural Resources Group and Billion Oyster Project. At NYC Parks, she collaborated with partners and community groups to implement the Bronx River Intermunicipal Watershed Plan—a comprehensive ecological restoration approach that improves physical, ecological, and social conditions while reducing environmental stressors to the river and riparian areas. While working for Billion Oyster Project, Danielle played a pivotal role in shaping and advancing oyster reef habitat restoration in New York City. As Director of Restoration, she led and scaled the Restoration Department and strategically established several initiatives to assist the recovery of self-sustaining oyster populations in New York Harbor, which relied heavily on collaborative partnerships and a multi-habitat restoration approach. She holds a Master of Science in Environmental Policy from Bard College’s Center for Environmental Policy and a dual Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies and Anthropology from Adelphi University.

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