Trump Administration to Revoke Controversial Waters of the U.S. Rule

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — The Trump administration has announced that it is revoking the highly contested The Waters of the United States rule, which defines which waterways are subject to federal regulation.

The Obama-era regulation, an expansion of the Clean Water Act in 1972, has been very unpopular with farmers and developers, who have complained that it represents federal overreach that infringes upon property rights and impedes agricultural and economic development. But environmental groups have already taken aim at the action, calling it the latest in a series of moves to roll back environmental protections put into place under former President Barack Obama.

It would be great if farmers didn’t have to hire an army of consultants and lawyers just to be able to farm.

“This action officially ends an egregious power grab and sets the stage for a new rule that will provide much-needed regulatory certainty for farmers, home builders and property owners nationwide,” Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler and R.D. James, assistant secretary of the Army for civil works, wrote in a column published Thursday by the Des Moines Register.

Since enactment of the Clean Water Act in 1972, the federal government has gone beyond protection of navigable waterways and their major tributaries to assert jurisdiction over “isolated ponds and channels that flow only after it rains,” the officials wrote.

Trump Administration to Revoke Controversial Waters of the U.S. Rule