Trump rolls back Obama-era water regulation - article courtesy of Joshua Schneider
Trump rolls back Obama-era water regulation
The Trump administration on Thursday revoked an Obama-era
regulation that shielded many U.S. wetlands and streams from pollution but was opposed
by developers and farmers who said it hurt economic development and infringed
on property rights.
Environmental groups criticized the administration’s
action, the
latest in a series of moves to roll back environmental protections put into place under President Obama.
latest in a series of moves to roll back environmental protections put into place under President Obama.
The 2015 Waters of the United States rule defined the waterways subject to federal regulation. Scrapping it “puts an end to an egregious power grab, eliminates an ongoing patchwork of clean water regulations
and restores a longstanding and familiar regulatory framework,” Environmental
Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler said at a news conference in
Washington.
Mr. Wheeler and R.D. James, assistant secretary of the
Army for civil works, signed a document overturning the rule and temporarily
restoring an earlier regulatory system that emerged after a 2006 ruling from a sharply
divided Supreme Court.
The agencies plan to adopt a new rule by the end of the
year that is expected to define protected waterways more narrowly than the
Obama policy.
The Clean Water Act requires landowners to obtain federal
permits
before developing or polluting navigable waterways such as rivers and lakes. But disputes have long persisted over what other waters are subject to regulation — particularly wetlands that don’t have a direct connection to those larger waters, plus small head water streams and channels that flow only during and after rainfall.
before developing or polluting navigable waterways such as rivers and lakes. But disputes have long persisted over what other waters are subject to regulation — particularly wetlands that don’t have a direct connection to those larger waters, plus small head water streams and channels that flow only during and after rainfall.
Environmentalists contend many of those smaller, seemingly
isolated waters are tributaries of the larger waterways and can have a significant
effect on their quality. Denying them federal protection would leave millions
of Americans with less safe drinking water and allow damage of wetlands that
prevent flooding, filter pollutants and provide habitat for a multitude of fish,
waterfowl and other wildlife, they said.
“By repealing the Clean Water Rule, this administration is
opening our iconic waterways to a flood of pollution,” said Bart Johnsen-Harris
of Environment America. “The EPA is abdicating its mission to protect our environment
and our health.”
Mr. Wheeler
said regulators had gone far beyond the intent of Congress under the 1972 clean
water act.
