No housing on salt ponds; Biden administration says they’re protected

The possibility of ever putting 8,000 to 12,000 homes on the salt ponds east of Redwood City appeared to die today when the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency declared the area is protected under the Clean Water Act. The decision reversed the stance of the Trump administration, which argued the salt ponds weren’t protected. Without such protection, a housing developer would have faced fewer regulatory burdens in obtaining permission to build there.