ROUNDUP: Trump Administration Repeals Crucial Clean Water Rule Act

On September 19, 2019, the Trump Administration officially repealed the Clean Water Rule, as crucial protection of the Clean Water Act protecting approximately 60 percent of the nation’s stream miles and millions of acres of wetlands.

The Clean Water Rule was finalized by the Obama administration after years of planning, 400 stakeholder meetings, and more than a million public comments. It safeguards our water and restores protections to the drinking water sources for a quarter of Virginians and a third of all Americans. 

By blocking the Clean Water Rule, at least 57% of Virginia’s stream miles and millions of acres of wetlands nationwide will again be at risk from pollution and destruction of development, oil and gas production, and other industrial activities. More than 35,000 Virginians support this rule as well as more than 60 conservation, environmental, and sportsmen groups.

Members of the environmental community released the following statements:

Collin O’Mara, President and CEO, National Wildlife Federation

“No one wants to fish a lake covered in toxic algae, duck hunt in a bulldozed wetland, or pitch a tent next to a creek filled with feces,” says Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. “Unfortunately, this Administration is working on multiple fronts to rewrite the rules that protect our waters, hoping no one will notice. The collective impact of these changes would be devastating for public health and wildlife across the country—and we will continue to fight to protect America’s waterways every step of the way.”

Blan Holman, Managing Attorney, Southern Environmental Law Center’s Charleston office

“Once again, this federal administration is attacking our nation’s clean water defenses to help big polluters instead of protecting our families and communities.  They want to pretend that pollution doesn’t flow downstream, when everyone knows that the best way to keep water clean is to stop harmful pollution at its source. Our states depend on the Clean Water Act to protect communities from flooding and unlimited pollution. This administration wants to slash environmental protection in this country, but we are going to fight them every inch of the way.”

Lisa Feld, Vice President for Environmental Protection and Restoration, Chesapeake Bay Foundation

 “These actions continue the Administration’s assault on clean water. The repeal ignores EPA’s own science and the lengthy and inclusive process that was used to develop the 2015 rule. And, unfortunately, we expect the Administration’s forthcoming replacement rule to go even further and remove federal protections from many waterways and wetlands that have been in place since the inception of the Clean Water Act. Maintaining the health of these waterways and wetlands is crucial to protecting downstream waters.

“The Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint is designed to put practices on the ground to restore water quality in local rivers, streams, and the Chesapeake Bay. Removing wetland protections will make the Blueprint more difficult to achieve.”

Bob Irvin, President and CEO, American Rivers

“The millions of children newly back to school could give this administration’s officials a basic science lesson: wetlands and streams connect to larger rivers. They are vitally important to protecting water quality for all of our communities. The destruction we cause upstream impacts our neighbors downstream.

“We need to be doing more as a nation, not less, to safeguard clean water. With millions from New Jersey to California lacking access to safe drinking water, and with toxic algae from North Carolina to Oregon threatening public health and our pets, now is not the time to create more loopholes for polluters.

“American Rivers is fighting back against this administration’s rollbacks and we believe, ultimately, we’ll succeed. Not only because we have science and the law on our side. But because a healthy river is more valuable to a community than a dead, polluted one. And, because clean water and healthy rivers are absolutely vital to our nation’s security and our future.”

Jamie Brunkow, Senior Advocacy Manager and James Riverkeeper, James River Association

“Our river is only as healthy as its upstream waters. This repeal puts these critical upstream waters at risk of more polluted runoff and wastewater, and it leaves downstream communities and states like Virginia potentially vulnerable.”