News & Views: Conservation Shifts to States

While federal agencies rollback programs and cut budgets for science and environmental programs, any progress on conservation issues in 2026 will likely come from the states as they assume a larger role.

The National Caucus on Environmental Legislators, which represents about 1,300 state legislators, says their focus for 2026 includes topic like:

• Data centers: 27 states have bills pending to establish guidelines to foster greater transparency about the water and energy requirements and setting emission standards.
• Access to residential solar: 34 states have legislation to lower costs and reduce barriers to small solar panel systems that residents can install themselves.
• Habitat connectivity: With about two million car-wildlife collisions each year, a dozen states are looking at road crossings and other strategies to help wildlife to travel safely through better connected habitat.

For more information visit their website, www.ncelenviro.org.

League Briefs State Lawmakers on Nitrate

On February 26, the Izaak Walton League hosted a briefing for Iowa state lawmakers about nitrate in surface and drinking water. League staff told the legislators that Iowa volunteers submitted more than 4,000 readings during 2025. The reported nitrate data revealed that the average concentration in surface water often exceeded the EPA’s 10 mg/L standard for safe drinking water, which triggers an expensive water process that reduces nitrate to safe levels. That process increases the cost of drinking water for consumers and underscores the need to reduce nutrient pollution in the Hawkeye State’s waterways.

EPA Backs Deadline for Lead Pipe Replacement

In a February court filing, the Trump Administration’s EPA said it will support the 10-year deadline for replacing lead pipes—a rule approved under the Biden Administration. 

“EPA concluded that the only way to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act’s mandate to prevent anticipated adverse health effects ‘to the extent feasible’ is to require replacement of lead service lines,” the agency’s filing stated.

The Izaak Walton League applauds the EPA’s decision to stick to the deadline in order to reduce the harms of lead in the nation’s drinking water.

Source: Associated Press, Feb. 20 2026

And EPA Rolls Back Green House Gas Restrictions

In a blow to climate change mitigation, the EP rolled back the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding that identified six greenhouse gases in the atmosphere—carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride —as threats to “public health and welfare of current and future generations.”

In its February announcement, EPA started, “This is the single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history….[T]his action realigns EPA’s regulatory framework with the best reading of the CAA [Clean Air Act], which does not authorize EPA to regulate GHG emissions from new motor vehicles.”

Source: EPA, Feb. 2026

Outdoor America, 2026, Issue 1