WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Trump’s EPA rolls back Obama-era ‘puddle’ rule

The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday put new limits on an Obama-era rule that subjected watering holes and ditches to federal clean water regulations by treating them like rivers and streams.

The EPA’s definition makes some key changes to the 2015 Waters of the U.S. rule, but does keep a fair amount of the original rule intact.

“Our goal was not to reinvent the wheel,” said David Ross with EPA’s water pollution office. “Our goal was to try and simplify.”

He explained on a call with reporters that there are parts of the newly-proposed rule that are very similar to the Obama-era regulation. But the new Trump rule gives additional clarity to what does and doesn’t fall under Washington’s enforcement authority.

“The tributaries and adjacent wetlands, and maybe the ditches, is where the most significant differences are,” Ross said.

Continue reading at Washington Examiner…

Photo Credit: John Flesher/AP