EPA Failure by Nancy OhanianWhere are there voters who would get enthusiastic about rolling back a regulation that limits the amount of pollution and chemicals in our nation’s rivers, lakes, streams and wetlands? Where? Well, not in states, but at Republican Party meetings... they always go for abolishing regulations. All through American history, every step forward has meant a fight with conservatives and vested interests. Clean water might be good for the whole country, but rich, selfish special interests... they buy bottled water anyway. Progressives had to fight for years to pass and implement anti-Trust laws and conservatives just keep-- and still keep-- fighting against the public interest, pouring immense sums of money into persuading people that their own interests are somehow tied to the interest of the very rich. It works sometimes too. Labor rights took many decades and much blood spilled. And then came worker protection laws, child labor laws, consumer protections, environmental protections... they all seem like no brainers. But none were, partial because so many voters actually have no-- or non-functional-- brains. They don't see that conservatives, by their very nature, are their enemies.On Thursday, the Trumpist regime "announced the repeal of one of the Obama era's most sweeping environmental rules-- a set of pollution protections for small streams and wetlands that had riled up opposition from coal miners, home developers, farmers and oil and gas drillers." Politico reporter Annie Snider wrote that "The action creates instant doubts about the legal status of myriad seasonal or isolated wetlands and thousands of miles of waterways, including vast swaths of the arid West. And it clears the way for the Environmental Protection Agency to finish a follow-up regulation in the coming months that could leave most of the nation's wetlands without any federal safeguards."
EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler signed the repeal at the D.C. headquarters of the National Association of Manufacturers, one of the industry groups that had opposed the Obama administration's Waters of the U.S. rule. That 2015 regulation, also known as the Clean Water Rule, had cemented federal protections for headwater streams, Western rivers and nearby wetlands, in an effort to resolve questions raised by two muddled Supreme Court decisions.Trump EPA Administrator Scott Wheeler by Nancy OhanianThe repeal "removes an egregious power grab" by the Obama Administration, Wheeler said."When President Trump took office he immediately set into motion a process to remove and replace regulations that were stifling economic development," he said. "This climate of regulatory certainty is breathing new life into local economies around the country and today’s action is a perfect example.”Environmental groups and state attorneys general vowed to challenge the rollback, arguing that it jeopardizes drinking water supplies for 117 million Americans."California won't stand for this latest environmental attack by the Trump Administration, which could threaten federal protections for the majority of our waters," California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement.Jon Devine, director of federal water policy for the Natural Resources Defense Council, defended the Obama administration rule in a statement, saying it "represented solid science and smart public policy.""The Trump administration's wild-eyed attempts to reward polluters, however, knows no bounds, so it is repealing these important protections without regard for the law or sound science," he said. "This unsubstantiated action is illegal and will certainly be challenged in court."...In repealing Obama's rule, Wheeler's action restores earlier regulations that had governed Clean Water Act permitting before 2015. Both environmentalists and industry groups have complained that the pre-2015 rules are laborious and lead to inconsistent decisions.Meanwhile, the Trump administration is crafting a subsequent regulation that it hopes to finish before the end of the year to replace those rules with a much narrower definition of the types of streams and wetlands that are subject to Clean Water Act permitting requirements. By one early estimate from federal regulators, more than half the wetlands now protected would fall out of jurisdiction under the Trump administration's approach, which would eliminate nearly all federal protections for waterways in arid states like Arizona.
Long Island Congressman Tom Suozzi, asked a series of rhetorical questions when he saw what Trump was doing: "What can be more basic than protecting water? The water we drink? The waters that support marine life? The water that supports all living things? How can base politicians support monied interests over the essence of life?" And then made a strong and important suggestion: "We must fight back."Jon Hoadley is a respected and effective state legislator in Michigan, running for the congressional seat occupied by Trump enabler Fred Upton. "We're suffering from a drinking water crisis in Michigan, a state surrounded by over 20% of the world's fresh water," he told me today. "There are people in Flint still without clean drinking water. There are people across Southwest Michigan worried about PFAS in their water. We need to be holding polluters accountable, not let people off the hook who poison our water to save a buck."Jason Butler, a Wake County, North Carolina pastor and community organizer, isn't in Congress-- but he's running for a suburban/rural congressional seat occupied by Trump rubber stamp, George Holding. Unlike Tom, Jason had just two questions: "Are we living in the Twilight Zone? I mean, in what universe is this a good idea? Water is literally the building block of life and every single person in this country depend upon clean drinking water. In fact, our whole economy depends upon clean water. To roll these back these protections in the exact moment that we face a global climate crisis that threatens life itself, is not only bad policy, it’s a threat to our lives. If we allow corporations to dump whatever toxic mess they like into our water systems then our ecosystems will be sick, our wildlife will die, and those that depend directly upon clean water will suffer. I feel like this President think that he’s playing a board game where there are no real consequences-- but unfortunately that’s not the case. This is real life and there are real consequences for real people. We need to be putting more protections into place for our water systems instead of destabilizing them. We need to be cleaning up our water systems and designating more areas as protected watersheds. But here’s the crazy thing-- nobody actually thinks this is a good idea. Many big corporations have also come out against this. The only explanation for this move, to me, is that, once again, this President is willing to sacrifice the future of the American people for another Trump ego trip."