Trump administration suspends Clean Water Rule, going back to old regulations that threaten the nation’s waters 

The Trump Administration’s suspension of the Clean Water Rule threatens protections for millions of miles of streams and acres of wetlands throughout the United States.

“Make no mistake: abandoning the Clean Water Rule will mean pollution, flooding, and harm to fish and wildlife in New York and across the country — undermining decades of work to protect and enhance our water resources,” said New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman. 

It will also force states to spend more to clean up the pollution from upstream states that refuse to protect their waters, Schneiderman said.

“The Clean Water Rule is a common sense application of the law and the best science to protect our waters,” he said. “The Trump Administration’s suspension of these vital protections is reckless and illegal.” 

A coalition of states will sue to block the rollback in court. 

In April 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps proposed the Clean Water Rule to define the “waters of the United States.” After receiving more than 1 million comments, most of which supported the rule, the agencies published the rule on June 29, 2015. A coalition of eight attorneys general successfully intervened to defend the rule. 

The rule clarifies the scope of waters that are protected under the Clean Water Act. It protects waters with a “significant nexus” to downstream waters, such as tributary streams, wetlands, and open waters in floodplains and riparian areas. In drawing the lines, EPA and the Army Corps relied on an EPA scientific report that reviewed more than 1,200 peer-reviewed publications. The agencies also relied on an independent review of the science report by EPA’s Science Advisory Board.  

The rule enhances environmental protection by clearly defining the Clean Water Act’s jurisdiction to include waters that significantly contribute to the quality of the nation’s waters. By clarifying the act, the rule also benefits regulators and the regulated communities by reducing time-consuming, inefficient, and potentially inconsistent case-by-case legal actions.

The rule announced Wednesday by the Trump EPA and the Army Corps repeals the Clean Water Rule by suspending its for two years, and replacing it with the regulations – dating back to the 1980. These outdated rules led to years of confusing and inconsistent interpretations of “waters of the United States” by agencies and federal courts.