ENVIRONMENT/EPA/OBAMA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration is moving forward with a significant rollback of an Obama-era clean water regulation that has become a rallying cry for farmers and property-rights activists opposed to federal overreach. The new proposal, unveiled Tuesday [12-11-18] morning by acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler and other administration officials, would ease Washington’s oversight of small bodies of water, undoing a regulation President Donald Trump has called ‘a massive power grab.’ The new rule would replace an Obama administration regulation, known as the ‘Waters of the United States’ rule that expanded federal protections to smaller rivers and streams. Environmental advocates warn the proposed rule could remove pollution and development protections from most U.S. waterways and pose far-reaching effects on the safety of the nation’s tap water for more than 100 million Americans.”
–Ledyard King, “Trump EPA takes aim at Obama-era clean water rules, prompting outcry from environmentalists,” USA Today, December 12, 2018 10:50 am