Trump Administration Announces Plans to Repeal EPA Water Regulations

By: Politicized News

· Domestic Policy

The Trump administration has announced plans to roll back EPA restrictions that reduced the amounts of pollutants in America’s lakes, rivers, and wetlands. The regulations, which were established during the Obama administration, was aimed at reducing the pollution in 60% of America’s waters, using oversight powers given to them by the 1972 Clean Water Act. “The clean water rule represented solid science and smart public policy. Where it has been enforced, it has protected important waterways and wetlands, providing certainty to all stakeholders,” said Jon Devine, director of federal water policy at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “The Trump administration’s wild-eyed attempts to reward polluters, however, knows no bounds, so it is repealing these important protections without regard for the law or sound science.”

The agency proposed the policy change after an executive order from President Trump, who argued that the restrictions harmed farmers, one of his major voting bases. Farmers argued that the EPA regulations severely restricted what landowners could do on their private property, forcing them to obtain permits to plow, plant, and use fertilizer if their land was near a federally controlled body of water.

The law gave the government oversight powers over all small streams, rivers, and creeks that emptied into larger, federally controlled bodies of water.