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Swordsmyth
06-15-2018, 08:32 PM
The Environmental Protection Agency onFriday inched closer to proposing a regulation to replace an Obama-era rule that clarified which bodies of water qualified for federal protection.
The proposal comes more than a year after EPA administrator Scott Pruitt (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/scott-pruitt/)signed an executive action to revoke the 2015 Clean Water Rule, also known as the Waters of the United States, or WOTUS, rule. The regulation clarified which wetlands and streams could be protected under the Clean Water Act and expanded federal authority to all “navigable” waters. That extended the federal safeguards to 2 million miles of streams (https://thinkprogress.org/senate-defeats-a-bill-that-would-have-removed-millions-of-miles-of-streams-from-federal-protection-bb02f15a4125#.yhiztvh14) and 20 million acres of wetlands, securing the drinking water of more than 117 million Americans (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/epa-clean-water-rule_us_59535198e4b02734df2e6e06).
But a federal judge stayed the Clean Water Rule in 2015; the rule has since bounced around the courts. In January, the Supreme Court volleyed the case (https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060071583) back to the district court level. In the meantime, Pruitt began the process of repealing the rule outright.

More at: https://www.yahoo.com/news/epa-moves-replace-obama-era-122348173.html

Swordsmyth
12-07-2018, 10:05 PM
On Thursday, the Interior Department proposed easing rules on oil and gas drilling for millions of acres of range in the West. And as soon as next week, the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to unveil its proposed rewrite of a major 2015 Obama rule that extended federal protections to thousands of waterways and wetlands.
Supporters and opponents expect the overhaul of the national water rule could go even further, also changing aspects of how the U.S. enforces the 1972 Clean Water Act, one of the country's foundation environmental measures. Environmental groups say the rewrite could lift federal protections for millions of miles of streams and wetlands in the lower 48 states.
The broad outline of the administration water rule to emerge so far points to "an unprecedented rollback of Clean Water Act protections," said Jan Goldman-Carter, senior director of wetlands and water resources at the National Wildlife Federation.
The pending water rule changes and other major rollbacks already announced give big wins to energy companies, farmers, builders and others who've fought for decades against environmental rules they see aimed at stalling or stopping projects until developers give up.


A set of White House talking points for the proposed new water rule obtained by the Associated Press says the Trump administration would remove federal protections for waterways including isolated wetlands and ponds and creeks that run only after rain or snowmelt, among others.
Up to 60 percent of the stream miles in the continental U.S., not counting Alaska, and more than half of the wetlands appear to potentially be affected, Goldman-Carter, with the National Wildlife Federation, said.
The overhaul, commanded by Trump in a 2017 executive order, deals with what kinds of waterways fall under protection of the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.


Many farmers, miners, builders and others loathe the federal protections for remote creeks and seasonally dry frog ponds, seeing the water protections as unjustified federal barricades to plowing or building on their own private property.
"The previous administration's 2015 rule wasn't about water quality," the White House's talking points say, making an argument that the EPA's Wheeler has echoed in meetings around the country on the pending water proposal.
"It was about power - power in the hands of the federal government over farmers, developers, and landowners," the unreleased administration statement says.

More at: https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-administration-expected-target-obama-water-rule-221027098--politics.html

Swordsmyth
12-12-2018, 07:48 PM
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced (https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/420775-trump-moves-to-relax-obama-era-water-protections)that the Obama administration’s 2015 Waters of the U.S. rule (WOTUS) rule would be redefined and no longer protect many of the nation’s streams and wetlands.

Under the Trump administration’s proposal, which Common Dreams reported (https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/12/07/complete-wiping-away-clean-water-act-trump-epa-rule-would-free-corporations-pollute) as imminent last week, streams that flow only after rainfall or snowfall will no longer be protected from pollution by developers, agricultural companies, and the fossil fuel industry. Wetlands that are not connected to larger waterways will also not be protected, with developers potentially able to pave over those water bodies.

EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler suggested that WOTUS had created unfair roadblocks for industries, farmers, and ranchers who wanted to build and work near the nation’s waterways and were kept from doing so because of the potential for water pollution.

More at: https://www.globalresearch.ca/in-early-holiday-gift-to-polluters-trump-guts-protections-for-60-percent-of-nations-streams-wetlands-and-waterways/5662694