This article discusses changes to EPA Clean Water regulations – posing the greatest threat to the Clean Water Act in a generation.
April 15th is circled in red on calendars for tax day—and for the close of the public comment period on the Environmental Protection Agency’s controversial proposal to rescind safeguards for many waters and wetlands that have long been covered by the Clean Water Act.
The Trump Administration’s new rule would remove federal protections for wetlands lacking a continuous, surface water flow directly into navigable waters—a decision that ignores important hydrological connections through groundwater and other means. According to an analysis by the Southern Environmental Law Center, this proposed rulemaking would repeal federal safeguards for 80 to 90% of our wetlands across the country. (EPA’s own numbers put the rollback at a still unacceptably high 51% loss of coverage.)