Trump administration moves to withdraw clean-water rule

[Swordsmyth]

The Trump administration moved Tuesday to roll back an Obama administration policy that protected more than half the nation's streams from pollution but drew attacks from farmers, fossil fuel companies and property-rights groups as federal overreach.The 2015 regulation sought to settle a debate over which waterways are covered under the Clean Water Act, which has dragged on for years and remained murky despite two Supreme Court rulings. President Donald Trump issued an executive order in February instructing the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to rescind or revise the Obama rule, which environmentalists say is essential to protecting water for human consumption and wildlife.
In a statement, the agencies announced plans to begin the withdrawal process, describing it as an interim step. When it is completed, the agencies said, they will undergo a broader review of which waters should fall under federal jurisdiction.
"We are taking significant action to return power to the states and provide regulatory certainty to our nation's farmers and businesses," EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said, adding that the re-evaluation would be "thoughtful, transparent and collaborative with other agencies and the public."

More at: https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-adm...-politics.html

[Dr.No.]

Just because the rule was in place, doesn't make the water clean.

I'm all for the legal system letting people sue states and water companies for providing tainted water.

[Origanalist]

Just because the rule was in place, doesn't make the water clean.

I'm all for the legal system letting people sue states and water companies for providing tainted water.

Has that changed? I don't see that it does.

No one disputes that the 1972 Clean Water Act allows federal agencies to regulate navigable rivers and lakes. Less certain is the status of some 2 million miles of headwaters and streams that flow only part of the year — 60 percent of the river and stream miles in the Lower 48 states — plus 20 million acres of wetlands that aren't directly connected to large waterways.

The rule "would have put backyard ponds, puddles and prairie potholes under Washington's control,"

Indeed.

"Farmers and ranchers across this country are cheering," said Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation. He said the Obama rule was "a federal land grab designed to put a straitjacket on farming and private businesses across this nation."

Well, rack up one in the plus column for Trump. Now if he would just stop being a tool over in the Middle East....

[donnay]

Good. This is what happens when government gets involved with clean water...