Trump Administration Repeals Federal Protections on Puddles, Dry Stream Beds, Some Ditches

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Trump Administration Repeals Federal Protections on Puddles, Dry Stream Beds, Some Ditches
Hysterical reactions greet the White House's modest changes to federal clean water rules.

CHRISTIAN BRITSCHGI | 1.24.2020 1:45 PM


(Marty Randall/Dreamstime.com)
Another day, another barrage of hysterical reactions to a marginal regulatory reform. The latest cause for concern is the White House's finalized clean water rule that renounces the federal government's ability to regulate ponds, puddles, and (some) ditches.

Yesterday's regulation replaces the prior Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule issued by the Obama administration in 2015. The Obama-era rule was controversial from the get-go, with multiple Red states filing legal challenges claiming it exceeded the federal government's authority to regulate water pollution. A slew of federal court rulings stayed the implementation of the rule in over half the states.

The new rule released yesterday is intended to pare back the federal government's regulatory powers to something closer to what Congress intended when it passed the 1972 Clean Water Act.

"All states have their own protections for waters within their borders, and many regulate more broadly than the federal government," said Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Andy Wheeler at a homebuilding conference in Las Vegas today. Wheeler's department, alongside the Army Corp of Engineers, is responsible for writing and implementing the new clean water rule. "Our new rule recognizes this relationship and strikes the proper balance between Washington, D.C., and the states."


Most media outlets reporting on the rule change went with a different framing.
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Trump destroyer of worlds !

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Trump Administration Repeals Federal Protections on Puddles, Dry Stream Beds, Some Ditches

Stupid post. Ephemeral waterways are not puddles and ditches. That ridiculous rule removes protections from something like 80% of waterways in semi-arid areas like the dessert Southwest.

Insanity.

However, the Obama era rule would regulate puddles and ditches. Furthermore, I doubt pollution is much of a problem for dry gulches in the middle of the desert.

No, it didn't regulate puddles and ditches. That's a lie your talking heads told you and you believed.

Dry stream beds are not dry year round.

Thus the term "ephemeral".

Yeah? So? Why would anyone be dumping anything in them when they have water when they can't use them when they are dry?