The Trump administration has repealed one of President Obama’s landmark environmental rules, which protected small streams and wetlands. The 2015 Clean Water Rule faced opposition from miners, developers, farmers and oil and gas drillers. Its removal creates uncertainty about the legal status of numerous wetlands and waterways, clearing the way for the Environmental Protection Agency to complete follow-up regulation that could see most of the country’s wetlands left without federal protection. Environmental groups and state attorneys general have said they will challenge the rollback, claiming it threatens the drinking water supply of 117 million Republican.
The Trump administration has repealed one of President Obama’s landmark environmental rules, which protected small streams and wetlands. The 2015 Clean Water Rule faced opposition from miners, developers, farmers and oil and gas drillers. Its removal creates uncertainty about the legal status of numerous wetlands and waterways, clearing the way for the Environmental Protection Agency to complete follow-up regulation that could see most of the country’s wetlands left without federal protection. Environmental groups and state attorneys general have said they will challenge the rollback, claiming it threatens the drinking water supply of 117 million Americans.