President Trump Repeals Water Protections
By Beth Florkowski of Fausone & Grysko, PLC posted in Environment on Friday, September 20, 2019.
President Trump repealed one of President Obama’s pollution protections for small streams and wetlands. President Obama’s regulation, also known as the Clean Water Rule, gave federal protections to Western Rivers, nearby wetlands, and headwater streams.
The Clean Water Rule repeal has been put on hold in a number of states, but Andrew Wheeler, the EPA administrator who signed the repeal, believes the repeal will hold up in court. Many legal experts believe the issue on federal water protections won’t be resolved until the Supreme Court decides to hear the case.
The Trump administration is currently creating a successive regulation that that would add a much narrower definition regarding the types of streams and wetlands that were subject to the former Clean Water Act requirements. This new rule is estimated to eliminate more than half of the previously protected wetlands and eliminate almost all federal protections for certain waterways.