In May of 2015, the Obama administration engaged in one of its more shocking and unacceptable power grabs with the EPA’s Waters of the United States rule. President Trump, thus far clearly intent on keeping his campaign promises, is going to reverse this onerous overreach of the federal government as early as Wednesday.
Writing at the time of the rule’s announcement, I noted that the scope of the rule was such that it included, quite literally, puddles in one’s driveway or yard.
According to the document (full text [linked above]), the rule itself is not intended as regulatory (that probably comes later), but is instead “a definitional rule that clarifies the scope of the ‘waters of the United States’ . . . .” Essentially, almost all fresh water, including that in “water-filled depressions,” is now under the federal government’s purview and subject to government oversight and regulation.
Watch Judge Napolitano explain the depth of the problem with this rule:
In October of 2015, a federal court blocked the rule nationwide, and in January of this year the Supreme Court agreed to resolve jurisdictional wrangling over the rule, thus giving the Trump administration room to affect changes to or revoke the rule.
Trump has decided to reverse the rule entirely.
U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to sign a measure on Wednesday aimed at rescinding a major Obama administration water regulation and direct an end to the government’s defense of the rule, a Trump official briefed on the plan said on Friday.Trump is expected to direct the Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, which expands the number of waterways that are federally protected under the Clean Water Act.
Trump is likely influenced in his decision to ditch the Waters rule because of its economic impact, but whatever his reasons, this is a good move for conservatives like myself who were critical of the rule’s implicit and alarming expansion of government power.
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