The Biden administration signed off on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations to protect small streams, wetlands and waterways as part of the Clean Water Act, just before the end of 2022.
President Joe Biden’s signing of the regulations ultimately repealed Trump-era regulations that made many waterways susceptible to pollution and were thrown out by federal courts.
The EPA signed off on the revised definition of “Waters of the United States” on Dec. 29 while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers signed off on the revised definitions on Dec. 28.
The revised rules define what types of water bodies are protected under the Clean Water Act and were based on definitions that were put in place before 2015 during the Obama administration.
The Trump administration reversed course from the Obama administration, which looked for ways to expand federal protections of waterways.
The Trump administration’s rule benefited property owners, including farmers, builders, and oil producers, who were concerned about feds regulating ravines and creeks on private property, like farms.
Without regulations on those waterways, environmental groups said, the rule allowed wetlands to be filled in by property owners, damaging habitats. It also allowed for property owners to dump harmful pollutants into the unprotected waterways, which could potentially flow downstream and threaten wildlife or water supply sources.
The Trump-era rule was thrown out by U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Marquez, who said the regulations ignored that smaller waterways could affect the health of waterways they flow into, the Associated Press reported.
The new rule signed by the Biden administration increases protections of wetlands, lakes, ponds and some streams, especially if they are navigable waterways or wetlands that are “relatively permanent.”
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