Clean Water Act could face major rollback

The Trump administration is poised to roll back Clean Water Act protections on millions of acres of streams and wetlands, following through on a promise to agriculture interests and real estate developers to rewrite an Obama-era rule limiting pollution.

The administration’s plan for a vastly scaled-down Clean Water Rule is expected to be released as soon as today.

The talking points signal that the Environmental Protection Agency intends to strip federal protections from all of the nation’s wetlands and many streams that do not flow year-round. The administration has not challenged the accuracy of the talking points.

At stake are billions of dollars in potential development rights, the quality of drinking water for tens of millions of Americans and rules that affect farming in much of the country, as well as wildlife habitat for most of the nation’s migratory birds and many other species.

Under the administration’s plan, the Clean Water Act’s protections would no longer apply to most ponds, wetlands and streams that form major parts of drinking-water systems and fisheries throughout the nation, particularly in the arid West. As many as one in three Americans drink water derived in part from seasonal streams that would no longer get protections, according to scientific studies the Obamaera EPA relied on in writing the original rule. and her case is unrelated to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.