Navigable Waters Protection Rule Archives

Federal Judge Throws Out Trump Administration Rule Allowing the Draining and Filling of Streams, Marshes and Wetlands

August 31, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /The Washington Postby Dino Grandoni and Brady Dennis

A federal judge Monday threw out a major Trump administration rule that scaled back federal protections for streams, marshes and wetlands across the United States, reversing one of the previous administration’s most significant environmental rollbacks. U.S. District Judge Rosemary Márquez wrote that Trump officials committed serious errors while writing the regulation, finalized last year, and that leaving it in place could lead to “serious environmental harm.”

Full Story

Biden Swings Waters Pendulum With Final Resolution Still Elusive

January 29, 2021/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /Bloomberg Law by Bobby Magill

The Biden administration is swinging the pendulum of repeated changes to water regulation back to expanding after those regulatory powers contracted under President Donald Trump.

But the swing isn’t likely to be permanent, legal scholars say.

Full Story

Why the American West is Fighting for Water Protection

January 6, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /Voxby Laura Bult

Since the Clean Water Act passed in 1972, the assumption has been that all waterways are protected from pollution — meaning that rivers, streams, lakes, and wetlands are, by law, shielded from industrial and agricultural waste through a strict permitting process via the federal government.

Full Story

Companies Eager to ‘Lock In’ Trump-Era Water Rule Exemptions

September 11, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /Bloomberg Lawby Amena H. Saiyid

Coal miners, stone quarrying companies, and other businesses are rushing to lock down any exemptions to federal water jurisdiction for at least five years, under changes the Trump administration recently made to the nation’s water rule.

Full Story

Federal Judge Considers States’ Bid to Block Trump Water Rule

June 19, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Bloomberg Lawby Alexandra Yetter and Ellen M. Gilmer

A California federal judge is weighing whether to block the Trump administration’s controversial water rule, as requested by more than a dozen states suing over the regulation.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California spent three hours Thursday hearing arguments on whether to halt the Navigable Waters Protection Rule from taking effect on June 22, as planned.

A preliminary injunction will “prevent widespread harm to national water quality, and disruption” to water pollution control in cities and states while the claim is litigated, the 17-state coalition led by California and New York argued in a motion filed last month.

The rule “seriously undermines water quality and seriously is contrary” to the Clean Water Act, New York attorney Timothy L. Hoffman, representing the coalition, told Judge Richard Seeborg.

Full Story

Trump’s Water Jurisdiction Rule: What’s All the Fighting About?

May 19, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Bloomberg Lawby Ellen M. Gilmer and Amena H. Saiyid

The Trump administration’s long-anticipated water jurisdiction rule has already drawn a half-dozen legal challenges since its April release, with more on the way.

The Navigable Waters Protection Rule narrows which types of wetlands and waterways trigger federal Clean Water Act oversight, replacing interpretations by Obama-era officials and earlier administrations.

Full Story

States Sue Trump Administration over Rollback of Obama-era Water Protection

May 4, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /The Hillby Rebecca Beitsch

A coalition of 17 Democratic-leaning states sued the Trump administration on Friday for rolling back Obama-era protections for waterways, arguing the move ignores science on the interconnectivity of water.

President Trump’s Navigable Waters Protection Rule limits federal protections for a number of smaller waterways, which many scientists say risks pesticides and pollution reaching larger ones.

“This rule opens the door to new, and worse industry pollution that endangers our wildlife, it dirties our drinking water and increases the risk of harmful contamination of our nation’s waterways. In short, it risks the health and safety of Americans around the nation,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) said in a call with reporters announcing the suit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and asks to vacate the rule entirely.

Full Story

Posts