EPA WOTUS Proposal Raises Concerns Over Clean Water Regulations
The U.S. EPA has proposed new guidelines regarding what counts as a “water of the United States,” a controversial announcement that has been met with backlash.
While Administrator Lee Zeldin maintained that the new rules would provide “a balance between protecting the environment and economic development,” environmental advocates aren’t so sure.
“The Trump administration’s Polluted Water Rule is another blatant giveaway to big corporate polluters that will jeopardize the waters that our families and communities rely on for drinking, recreation, and fueling our local economies,” said Madeleine Foote, healthy communities program director at the League of Conservation Voters, per The Hill.
Under the new rule, the scope of federal jurisdiction over waters and wetlands in the U.S. would be limited. The rule would reverse the Biden administration’s definition of waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) and would impose stricter guidelines on what kind of water is protected by the Clean Water Act.
Among the excluded waters would be wetlands. “The wetlands now at risk of being bulldozed filter our water supplies and protect us from floods,” said Jim Murphy, senior director for legal advocacy for the National Wildlife Federation, per Bloomberg Law.
Wetlands, which have been called “the kidneys of the landscape,” remove and detoxify contaminants in water. Without federal protection, “people will no longer need a permit to fill the wetlands,” Mark Ryan, a former Clean Water Act litigation specialist at the EPA, told The Hill.
Added Curtis Richardson, director of the Duke University Wetland Center: “Every place we remove them, we’ve ended up having to spend millions of dollars on treatment plants or have polluted water.”
The proposal will need to be published in the Federal Register, and then the EPA will be open to public comments for 45 days before finalizing.