New Trump administration rule could muddy clean water protections

The Trump administration has released a proposed rule repealing the 2015 Clean Water Rule, which had legally clarified which streams and wetlands were protected under the Clean Water Act.

This is the first step in the Administration’s effort to repeal and ultimately replace the Clean Water Rule with a new rule based on Justice Scalia’s non-majority opinion in the 2006 Rapanos case. A rule based on this decision could leave the majority of the nation’s stream miles and wetland acres in the lower 48 states unprotected by the Clean Water Act.

“Every American should be able to turn on the tap and get clean, safe drinking water,” said Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. “The president campaigned on the promise of ‘crystal clear water.’ The best way to make that promise a reality is to prevent pollution in the first place. Today’s hasty and haphazard repeal would do just the opposite. It disrespects the broad public support and strong legal and scientific basis for the Clean Water Rule and it fails to provide the clarity inherent in the Rule.

“The repeal and replacement plan could end up rolling back Clean Water Act protections for a majority of the nation’s streams and wetlands, including the headwater streams that are so important for trout and other species of fish, and millions of acres of seasonal wetlands that store flood waters and provide essential habitat for more than half of North American migratory waterfowl, as well as a diverse array of other birds, amphibians, and reptiles.”