As promised by EPA chief Scott Pruitt, the Trump administration immediately began work to replace the Waters of the United States rule that was a target of President Trump’s campaign. On the same day that Trump signed an executive order to roll back WOTUS, Pruitt signed a Federal Register notice of “intention to review and rescind or revise” WOTUS.
Pruitt said EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would “review the 2015 Rule, and then … propose a new rule that will rescind or revise that rule.” The rule, which describes the upstream reach of the clean water law, was highly contentious while EPA was drafting it and was immediately challenged in court. While Oklahoma attorney general, Pruitt was among state officials who sued EPA to block WOTUS.
The Trump administration says it would use a narrower definition of federal jurisdiction over water than applied by the Obama administration.
To read the four-page Federal Register notice, click here.
The EPA home page for the clean water rule is available here.