Pruitt also stopped at Bill Couser’s farm near Nevada, Iowa, to address farmers and agricultural leaders about the WOTUS rule. “We need to work with the states on their individual needs. Each state is different and one rule would not be fair to the states,” Pruitt said. “We need to know what is a water […]
A majority of Americans say President Donald Trump’s administration should work with Congress and local businesses to rewrite a former President Barack Obama-era “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule, according to polling. Morning Consult pollsters found that not only do most Americans see WOTUS as an example of government overreach, 58 percent agree the […]
Taking the stage at a Galt House where he worked as a bell hop while in college, Kentucky native and US EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt wasted no time telling the audience that the Trump administration was about to shed baggage left behind by the Obama Administration’s EPA. “Waters of the US” is likely the biggest […]
And Pruitt said EPA is working to clarify which tributaries fall under federal oversight through a new Waters of the U.S. rule after repealing an Obama administration rule that critics complained was too broad. “If the impetus behind the rule — behind the 2015 rule — was clarity … the previous administration failed miserably,” Pruitt […]
The Waters of the United States rule, passed by administrative fiat in June 2015, gave the federal government jurisdiction over nearly every river, lake, creek, estuary, pond, swamp, prairie pothole, irrigation ditch, and intermittent rivulet in the U.S. It’s a regulation that can force a rancher to spend $40,000 trying to get permission to grade […]
Federal regulation of waterways may not be the first issue that comes to mind in a desert state like Arizona, but don’t tell that to Pima County cattle rancher Jim Chilton. Chilton was one of two Arizonans invited to testify Wednesday on the Waters of the United States rule, an Obama administration plan to streamline […]
Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt found a friendly audience Thursday in his native Kentucky as he lambasted an Obama-era clean-water rule. Speaking to a Kentucky Farm Bureau audience, Pruitt said the rule aimed at protecting small streams and wetlands from development and pollution was an example of federal overreach. He said it tried to […]
To protect navigable waters, the Clean Water Act’s jurisdiction extends to waters linked to navigable ones. But because essentially all waters are connected, under the 2015 Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, agencies will assess the degree of connectivity on a case-by-case basis. A recent executive order from President Donald Trump asks the Environmental […]
The top Republican on the House science panel’s environment subcommittee says there are “bubbling, nascent discussions” on potential legislation to limit the reach of the Clean Water Act (CWA), but any such bill could be far off despite subcommittee members voicing support for restricting the law’s scope during a Nov. 29 hearing. Speaking to Inside […]
Everyone agrees that we need clean air and clean water; still, West Virginians should not be forced to choose between economic prosperity and a clean environment. We expect both. That is why federal environmental laws like the Clean Water Act, and the Clean Air Act provide for cooperation between federal authorities and state officials. This […]