14 states sue EPA over rollback of Obama-era water rule

A coalition of 14 states sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday over its rollback of a landmark Obama-era rule stipulating which waterways are regulated by the federal government. The Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule expanded the scope of waters that farmers, manufacturers and other industries would need to ensure are in compliance with EPA guidelines. The Trump rollback of the rule, announced in September, would relegate waterway protections to 1986 standards. A proposal for the areas that would be covered under the rule is expected sometime next year. The coalition of states argue that returning the U.S. to the narrower 1986 standard ignores studies showing how small bodies of water, even seasonal ones following snowmelt, connect with and impact larger bodies of water more typically targeted for regulation. “This regressive rule ignores science and the law and strips our waters of basic protections under the Clean Water Act. Attorneys general across this nation will not stand by as the Trump Administration seeks to reverse decades of progress we’ve made in fighting water pollution,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, who spearheaded the suit, said in a statement. Critics of WOTUS argue that the 2015 rule requires grand efforts from farmers and others to protect relatively small bodies of water that run through their property, ultimately subjecting more land to federal oversight...MORE