WOTUS Archives

Who’s Suing Over Trump’s WOTUS Rule?

Opponents of the Trump administration’s new definition of which waterways and wetlands are protected under the Clean Water Act have lined up in court to make their grievances known.

Don’t expect clarity on the rules anytime soon.

The Trump administration’s Navigable Waters Protection Rule is already on hold in one state — Colorado — and could still be frozen by any one of the various federal judges who are now examining the regulation. Unlike lawsuits over Clean Air Act rules, which land in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Clean Water Act challenges can be heard in any of the nation’s nearly 100 federal district courts.

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Tribes, Environmentalists Sue to Stop Rollback of Clean Water Act Protections

June 24, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /AZ Centralby Debra Utacia Krol and Ian James

A coalition of tribal governments, environmentalists and labor advocates has sued to stop implementation of a new federal rule that weakens protections for streams and wetlands. The Environmental Protection Agency’s new Navigable Waters Protection Rule, which which took effect on Monday, rolls back clean-water regulation of intermittent waterways, arroyos and washes.

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California and EPA Tussle Over Water-Quality Protections

June 19, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /Courthouse News Serviceby Matthew Renda

Attorneys for 18 states and two major cities were in federal court Thursday asking a judge to grant a preliminary injunction that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from removing protections from temporary streams, wetlands and other minor water bodies.

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Justices Reject Clean Water Act Plea in Blow to Miners

June 16, 2020/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /E&E Newsby Pamela King

Supreme Court justices today declined to consider whether moving — but not adding — rocks, sand and other debris within a regulated waterway is subject to Clean Water Act restrictions. The court’s decision not to take up the Eastern Oregon Mining Association’s petition came as a disappointment for operators that use suction dredge mining, an industrial process similar to panning for gold in a river.

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State, Feds in Talks Over Water

June 4, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /Western Farm Pressby Tim Hearden

California and federal water regulators are trying to quickly resolve their legal dispute over competing biological opinions governing the management of their respective water projects, a top state official says.

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Conservative States Defend Water Rule From California-Led Suit

June 3, 2020/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /Bloomberg Lawby Ellen Gilmer

A coalition of conservative-leaning states went to court Monday to defend the Trump administration’s water jurisdiction rule.

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Opinion: Ripple Effect – When Politics Ignores Science, it Jeopardizes Local Clean Water

May 22, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /The Hillby Nathan Murphy

Nine states are suing the Environmental Protection Agency for “trying to use the current public health crisis to sweep environmental violations under the rug,” according to California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.

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

May 18, 2020/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /Bloomberg Lawby Ellen Gilmer

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.

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Engineers and Wetland Scientists Face Challenges with Regulatory Changes to the Clean Water Act

May 14, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /Civil and Structural Engineer Mediaby Lee Lance, Jeremy Schewe

This year’s changes to the Clean Water Act have made the already-challenging work of scientists and engineers in water planning and management exponentially more difficult.

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New Federal Clean Water Rule Puts Expensive Onus on Colorado

May 12, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.)by Jerd Smith

Colorado and other Western states will be hard-pressed to shield their rivers and streams under a new federal Clean Water Act rule finalized last month, largely because hundreds of shallow Western rivers are no longer protected, and writing new state laws and finding the cash to fill the regulatory gap will likely take years, officials said.

Though many agricultural interests and water utilities support the new Waters of the U.S. rule, as it is known, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and Patrick Pfaltzgraff, director of the state’s Water Quality Control Division, said they will take legal action to protect streams that are no longer subject to federal oversight.

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