Tags: Risk Management

 

EPA waterways blog photo.jpg

It is now being reported that President Donald Trump has ordered his administration to rescind and rewrite an Obama-era environmental rule that critics say gave the U.S. government too much power to regulate waterways nationwide.

  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency are being told to reconsider the 2015 “Waters of the U.S.” rule.  Numerous states sued the EPA and others claiming the new regulation extended the EPA’s authority to include any dry creek beds, prairie wetlands and other territory far beyond the “navigable waters” subject to oversight under federal law.

The Trump administration is calling the rule “one of the worst examples of federal regulations saying it burdened farmers, ranchers and home-builders by extending the EPA’s authority to "include any puddle."  This latest executive order will also will ask a federal court in North Dakota to halt consideration of a lawsuit from dozens of states and an assortment of businesses and agricultural groups challenging the rule while the measure is being reviewed, according to a White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the document before its release. 

It also helps deliver on President Trump’s campaign pledge to rescind the measure critics said unfairly expanded the EPA’s Clean Water Act jurisdiction to include dry creek beds, prairie wetlands and other territory far beyond the “navigable waters” subject to oversight under federal law.

The move is the first of several environmental directives expected from the Trump administration in coming days. Another document aims to dismantle the Clean Power Plan, former President Barack Obama’s signature plan for combating climate change by slashing greenhouse gas emissions tied to the generation of electricity.  Newly installed EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt also said he wants to go after a rule imposed last year that limits methane emissions from new and modified oil and gas wells.

Significant federal regulatory changes are about to occur under the new Trump Administration and farmer, ranchers, and others are going to be pleasantly surprised by the new tone and tenor of the government agencies.

For more information about this topic call your Sioux City Law Firm, Sioux Falls Law Firm or Omaha Law Firm today!

To learn more about EPA regulations and how it may affect you, read our blog: http://blog.goosmannlaw.com/risk-manager-on-your-side/epa-risk-management-plans

CONTACT US

Subscribe Our Blog

DISCLAIMER: The information in this blog post (“post”) is provided for general informational purposes only, and may not reflect the current law in your jurisdiction. By visiting this website, blog, or post you understand that there is no attorney client relationship between you and the Goosmann Law Firm attorneys and website publisher. No information contained in this post should be construed as legal advice from Goosmann Law Firm, PLC, or the individual author, nor is it intended to be a substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter. No reader of this post should act or refrain from acting on the basis of any information included in, or accessible through, this Post without seeking the appropriate legal or other professional advice on the particular facts and circumstances at issue from a lawyer licensed in the recipient’s state, country or other appropriate licensing jurisdiction.