Environmental Groups Sue EPA Over Clean Water Act Rollback
A recent flurry of litigation from around the state and across the country could have huge ramifications in California on the protection and distribution of scarce water resources.
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Clean Water Act Covers Groundwater Discharges, Supreme Court Rules
/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /The New York Timesby Adam LiptakIn a 6-to-3 ruling, the court rejected arguments by a county in Hawaii and the Trump administration that only pollution discharged directly into navigable waters requires permits.
Arizona Working to Define and Protect its Waterways Cut From Clean Water Act
/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Arizona Public Mediaby Ariana BrociousArizona does not currently have a comprehensive program to protect its surface water quality. The state is now faced with the task of creating one following a change to federal law.
The Trump administration unveiled its final rule in January redefining which waterways are regulated under the Clean Water Act, known as “Waters of the U.S.” Under this rule change, the vast majority of Arizona’s creeks and streams will not be protected.
Opinion: Whose Water is Being Carried By Trump’s Latest Environmental Rollback?
/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /San Francisco ChronicleWhen a Healdsburg winery leaked thousands of gallons of Cabernet into the Russian River last week, the jokes flowed, too. It was noted that the Russian was red, that water turned to wine, and that red wine doesn’t go with fish. But the spill coincided with a more sobering blow to clean water, coming to light the day the Trump administration announced it was ripping up expanded protections for streams, wetlands, and groundwater adopted by the Obama administration. And the revision goes beyond rolling back Obama-era policy to undo longer-standing protections under the Clean Water Act, which became law with overwhelming bipartisan support in 1972.
New EPA-Corps Rule Narrows Federal Clean-Water Jurisdiction
/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Engineering News-Recordby Tom IchniowskiThe Trump administration has carried out a major rewrite of a key environmental rule, significantly tightening the definition of which bodies of water are subject to federal regulation under the Clean Water Act, and which are not. The rule, governing what the statute calls “waters of the United States,” (WOTUS) is important to the construction industry because it determines where contractors must get a federal permit before they build near wetlands or streams. Construction groups hailed the new rule, which top officials of the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers signed on Jan. 23.
Trump Administration Unveils New Clean Water Act Rules. California Could See Big Impact
/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Desert Sun (Palm Springs, Calif.)by Mark OlaldeThe Trump administration on Thursday revealed an overhaul of the Clean Water Act that could remove federal protections for waterways around the country, including as many as two-thirds of those in California.
The arid West, where intermittent rainfall often flows through arroyos and washes, could be especially impacted by the rollback of federal jurisdiction, as the new “Navigable Waters Protection Rule” will remove federal oversight from ephemeral waterways created by rain or snow.
About 66% of California’s waterways are ephemeral or intermittent, according to the government’s own reports that were used in formulating earlier Clean Water Act rules. That number rises to 81% around the entire Southwest, including 94% of Arizona’s watercourses.
California Will be Hit Hard as Trump Administration Weakens Clean Water Protections
/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Los Angeles Timesby Anna M. PhillipsDefying environmentalists and public health advocates, the Trump administration on Thursday will announce the replacement of Obama-era water protections with a significantly weaker set of regulations that lifts limits on how much pollution can be dumped into small streams and wetlands.
The changes to the Clean Water Act’s protections are expected to hit California and other Western states especially hard.
Trump Hails WOTUS Overhaul as Critics Call for Investigation
/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /E&E News by Jeremy P. JacobsPresident Trump yesterday touted his repeal of key Clean Water Act regulations as more than three dozen current and former government officials called for an investigation into the scientific basis of his forthcoming replacement rule.
Trump told a gathering of the country’s farmers that last fall he repealed “one of the most ridiculous regulations of all,” the Obama administration’s Waters of the U.S., or WOTUS, rule, which defined which marshes, creeks and streams quality for federal protections.
Polluted Stormwater is Fouling L.A. Beaches. Little Has Been Done About It, Report Finds
/in Media Coverage, San Diego County /by Mike Lee /Los Angeles Timesby Colleen ShalbyCalifornia’s storms do plenty of good, including replenishing the state’s water supply by filling its reservoirs and dampening the risk of wildfires. But the rainwater runoff also carries heavy pollutants that wash directly onto the shore, creating a toxic mix that’s unsafe for beachgoers. Anyone who’s visited a beach after it rains has encountered such stormwater pollution, the unfiltered trash that piles onto the sand after flowing from rooftops, sidewalks and streets, picking up a trail of pesticides, bacteria, oil and grease before traveling through the storm drains.
Supreme Court Leans Toward Expanding Clean Water Act To Protect Oceans From Wastewater
/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Los Angeles Times by David G. SavageSupreme Court justices, both conservative and liberal, appeared skeptical Wednesday of a Trump administration argument that the federal Clean Water Act should not apply to sewage plant wastewater that flows into the ground and eventually seeps into federally protected waters, such as rivers or oceans.
The case from Hawaii has emerged as a major test of the federal anti-pollution law’s scope even as the Environmental Protection Agency under President Trump cuts back on enforcement. If justices side with environmentalists, their ruling could extend federal regulation to water treatment plants across the country.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
