Trump Slams Obama’s Waters Rule in Signing EPA Executive Order

“One of the most outrageous regulations to come from the Obama Administration was its Waters of the USA rule”, Rep. Graves said.

“NCGA remains committed to work with the EPA to ensure farmers have clarity and certainty they need about the regulations affecting their operations”, said Spurlock.

Many landowners, especially farmers, have objected to the rule, which in some cases required them to apply for permits to use water that had already been in use on their land for years.

Pruitt has said he plans to replace the water rule with something else, but whatever he comes up with will have to stand up to a lengthy public comment period and likely litigation.

“Today’s actions are a step toward reversing the rule’s impact and lifting another regulatory burden from the shoulders of hardworking farmers, ranchers and homeowners”, Noem said. “The administration can not stop water flowing downhill – and we all live downstream”.

Under WOTUS, all tributaries that have a bed, bank and a high water mark are automatically protected, among other water bodies.

“We are looking forward to working with the new administrator and his team on rebalancing the state/ federal relationship”.

The order Trump signed will also instruct the agencies to ask the attorney general to suspend ongoing court action while the review is underway. “Sportsmen will not settle for watered-down protections or negligence for the habitat that supports the fish and wildlife we love to pursue”, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership president Whit Fosburgh said on behalf of a five-group coalition.

“That timeline just includes the notices in the Federal Register and not the preparation time before they launched the formal process”, McAliley said.

“The administration’s decree to unilaterally expand federal authority is a raw and tyrannical power grab that will crush jobs”, Boehner said.

The rule was signed by President Obama in May of 2015, and went into effect in late August of 2015.

“The rule would illegitimately add thousands of private bodies of water-from farm ditches to dry creek beds-to the definition of what the government can regulate”, said Jenkins.

Many environmental groups, however, say the rule is necessary to combat water pollution, especially water pollution caused by farms and ranches.

Opponents of the rule have long tried to kill the water rule through the courts or legislative means. This is a question the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to resolve sometime next year. “The Obama Administration’s EPA claimed they listened to farmers when writing this rule; they did not”. “Far from attacking clean water, today’s decision begins the process of returning power to states, local communities, and property owners”.