Science

EPA Officially Ditches the #WOTUS Rule

September 13, 2019 11:19·
EPA Officially Ditches the #WOTUS Rule

EPA Officially Ditches the #WOTUS Rule

But agricultural groups, an important political constituency for Mr. Trump, praised the repeal of a regulation that they said had restricted how farmers could use their land.

WOTUS was already on hold in IN, one of 27 states where federal courts had blocked it as an intrusion on state authority. "Thanks to President Trump and Administrator Wheeler for their commitment to farmers and ranchers and restoring the rule of law". "We are also awarding $4.25 million to advance the research and development of alternative test methods for evaluating the safety of chemicals that will minimize, and hopefully eliminate, the need for animal testing".

In response to the EPA's action, Jon Devine, director of federal water policy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, issued a statement saying, "This unsubstantiated action is illegal and will certainly be challenged in court".

And while Wheeler said that moving forward with a plan to revoke California's authority to set its own requirements is "still an option", the administration has not yet committed to it.

Denying them federal protection would leave millions of Americans with less safe drinking water and allow damage of wetlands that prevent flooding, filter pollutants and provide habitat for a multitude of fish, waterfowl and other wildlife, they said. "Many Americans balked at this idea, and rightfully so".

"It can't be much longer before the Supreme Court decides to hear a case from one of the circuits", Glennon says.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly called clean water a priority for his administration.

The backstory: Before 2015, the EPA decided case-by-case whether individual streams or wetlands had significant impacts on downstream rivers and were therefore subject to federal clean water standards.

Second, the rule delivers the Trump Administration total estimated regulatory savings of $1.3 billion.

Camila Cabello has a recurring nightmare in 'Liar' music video
I want it to be mine and his. "In a relationship, it makes me feel uncomfortable to invite everyone in on that'". When people find love, they flaunt it over social media, so people will know that they are in a relationship.

Mr. Trump often complains that the WOTUS rule is too onerous for land owners and companies.

Many businesses have opposed the WOTUS rule, arguing that it was overly broad.

Regulation of non-navigable waters was the responsibility of the states.

Five years later, in Rapanos v.

Southerland, on the other hand, doesn't want a Supreme Court ruling. But Justice Anthony Kennedy, who refused to join either the conservatives or the liberals, said that the government could intervene when there was a "significant nexus" between large water bodies and smaller ones.

The repeal of the water rule, which is scheduled to be announced Thursday afternoon at the headquarters of the National Association of Manufacturers, will take effect in a matter of weeks.

The Clean Water Act, first passed in 1972, protects federal waterways but doesn't define them. "We are going to get caught in a position where we won't really be able to regulate chemicals in the US", University of Massachusetts Amherst environmental health scientist Laura Vandenberg says to Nature.

Congressman Smith led the fight against it, authoring a bill repealing WOTUS which made it to President Obama's desk in 2016 before being vetoed.

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