California-led coalition sues Trump EPA over water rule rewrite, saying it undoes decades-old protections
by Abby Smith May 01, 2020 04:05 PM
A coalition of 17 state attorneys general is challenging the Trump administration’s replacement of Obama-era clean water protections, saying it opens the door to industry pollution of waterways that their residents and economies rely upon.
“The narrow definition of this new rule would threaten irreparably to harm California and the rest of the nation’s waters and natural resources,” said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a Democrat. He was joined by fellow Democratic attorneys general Letitia James of New York and Hector Balderas of New Mexico in announcing the lawsuit Friday.
The attorneys general from Washington, D.C., and New York City are also joining the 17 states on the challenge.
The states’ lawsuit adds to a growing number of challenges across the country to the Trump administration’s replacement of the Obama-era rule, known as the Waters of the U.S. rule. President Trump has called the previous administration’s rule “one of the most ridiculous regulations of all.”
In January, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers established a narrower definition of which waters are covered by federal protections, one that includes traditional navigable waters, such as seas and rivers; streams that flow into traditional navigable waters; wetlands right next to covered waters; and certain lakes, ponds, and impoundments.
The new definition excludes some waters that were covered under the Obama-era rule, including some wetlands, many ditches, and ephemeral streams, or streams that flow with rainwater.
Environmentalists have said the Trump administration’s rule, known as the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, rolls back pollution protections for waters that have been covered for decades, even before the Obama-era regulation.
The Trump administration’s replacement “categorically excludes waterways that we’ve long understood are protected under the Clean Water Act,” Becerra said. He said that the narrower definition “collides” with the water law, Supreme Court precedent, and the EPA’s own scientific findings.
Already, the challenges to the Trump water rule are weaving a complicated legal web that could take years to unravel. That’s because the fight must start at the district court level, and each challenge so far has been filed in a different federal district court.
The coalition of state attorneys general filed in federal district court in Northern California. Clean water groups, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and ShoreRivers, filed a challenge Monday in a federal district court in Maryland. A coalition of environmental groups, including the Southern Environmental Law Center, filed Wednesday in a federal district court in South Carolina. Another coalition of advocacy groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Conservation Law Foundation, brought their challenge Wednesday in a federal district court in Massachusetts.
In addition, the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association, supported by the conservative Pacific Legal Foundation, filed suit in a federal district court in New Mexico, arguing the Trump administration’s narrower rule still goes too far.