The Trump administration on Tuesday took a major legal step toward repealing a bitterly contested Obama-era regulation designed to limit pollution in about 60 percent of the nation’s bodies of water.
The rule, known as Waters of the United States, or Wotus, had extended existing federal protections of large bodies of water, such as the Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound, to smaller bodies that flow into them, such as rivers, small waterways and wetlands. Issued under the authority of the 1972 Clean Water Act, the rule has been hailed by environmentalists. But farmers, ranchers and real estate developers oppose it as an infringement on their property rights.
President Trump signed an executive order in February directing Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, to begin the legal process for rolling back the water rule, calling it “one of the worst examples of federal regulation.”
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On Tuesday, Mr. Pruitt released a 42-page proposal to rescind the rule. Publication of the plan is the first step in a lengthy legal process that the Trump administration must undertake to eventually enact a new regulation, one that is expected to have far fewer restrictions and pollution protections. The administration will also have to detail its legal reasoning for scaling back the rule, a case environmental groups are sure to challenge.
The proposed rollback of the Obama water protection rule will have little immediate practical effect: A federal court had already delayed implementation of the regulation until legal questions are resolved.
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Supporters and opponents of Mr. Trump’s agenda to aggressively roll back federal regulations both saw the move as a significant step toward reversing President Barack Obama’s environmental actions.
“This proposal strikes directly at public health,” said Rhea Suh, the president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group. “It would strip out needed protections for the streams that feed drinking water sources for one in every three Americans. Clean water is too important for that. We’ll stand up to this reckless attack on our waters and health.”
Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, the Republican chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee and an ardent champion of Mr. Trump’s push to unravel environmental regulations, cheered the move. “The Wotus rule would have put backyard ponds, puddles and prairie pot holes under Washington’s control,” he said in a statement. “I applaud the Trump administration for working to remove this indefensible regulation. I will continue to work closely with the administration as it seeks common-sense ways to keep America’s water clean and safe.”
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