This past week, President Donald Trump kicked off reversing former President Barack Obama's Clean Water Rule. The executive order was signed by Trump on Tuesday.
The project Waters of United States, commonly known as WOTUS was drafted under President Barack Obama. Obama broadened the term tributary and tightened controls over adjacent waters. Agriculture groups were against the ruling as they felt it would make the life of farmers more difficult because they would lose farmland. Home construction groups were also against this new rule as they felt it would increase their overall cost of building new homes.
WOTUS a massive power grab Donald Trump says
Before signing the executive order on Tuesday, Donald Trump called WOTUS the worst example of Federal regulations. He called the rule a disastrous one and added that farmers, agricultural workers and ranchers were all against it. The WOTUS rules were published jointly in 2015 by the Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Trump added on Tuesday that the only good thing about the project was its name; everything else was bad. It was a horrible rule, added Trump. He also said that WOTUS was a massive power grab and the regulators at the epa had left hundreds of thousands of people jobless.
Scott Pruitt will lead undoing
Scott Pruitt, the new EPA chief, will work on undoing the environmental rules related to clean water.
When Pruitt was the Attorney General of Oklahoma, he sued the federal agency for WOTUS. On Tuesday, he added that WOTUS was a flawed ruling. Pruitt also added that under Obama’s rule, the federal regulatory authority followed the we-know-best sort of approach for handling environmental issues, but under the leadership of Trump that would change to a helpful approach.
The National Cattlemen's Beef Association on Tuesday applauded President Donald Trump for rescinding the WOTUS rule.
Environmental groups to challenge changes
Earlier it was reported that the environmental groups would challenge any changes that are made to the Federal Water Rules. The Sierra Club said that the President’s orders to undo clean water rules is a lengthy process and will only lead to more confusion. Donald Trump’s orders will only make it more difficult to know which waters are protected under the Clean Water Act.
