Trump moves to roll back environmental safeguards
WASHINGTON — One after another, landmark U.S. protections for climate, air and land are in the crosshairs of the Trump administration as his agency leaders move past early fumbles and scandals to start delivering on a succession of promised environmental rollbacks.
On Thursday, the Interior Department proposed easing rules on oil and gas drilling for millions of acres of range in the West. And as soon as this week, the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to unveil its proposed rewrite of a major 2015 Obama administration rule that extended federal protections to thousands of waterways and wetlands.
Supporters and opponents expect the overhaul of the national water rule could go even further, also changing aspects of how the U.S. enforces the 1972 Clean Water Act, one of the country’s foundational environmental measures. Environmental groups say the rewrite could lift federal protections for millions of miles of streams and wetlands in the lower 48 states.
The broad outline of the administration water rule to emerge so far points to “an unprecedented rollback of Clean Water Act protections,” said Jan Goldman-Carter, senior director of wetlands and water resources at the National Wildlife Federation.
A set of White House talking points for the proposed new water rule obtained by the Associated Press says the Trump administration would remove federal protections for waterways including isolated wetlands and ponds and creeks that run only after rain or snowmelt, among others.
Up to 60 percent of the stream miles in the continental U.S., not counting Alaska, and more than half of the wetlands appear to potentially be affected, Goldman-Carter, with the National Wildlife Federation, said.
The pending water rule changes and other major rollbacks already announced give big wins to energy companies, farmers, builders and others who’ve fought for decades against environmental rules they see as aimed at stalling or stopping projects until developers give up.
“This is what’s being done in the country to stifle ... progress. President Trump is very aware of this,” said Myron Ebell, a director at the Conservative Enterprise Institute who led President Trump’s environmental transition team.
Other rollbacks late this summer targeted what had been legacy efforts of former President Barack Obama to combat climate change by reducing coal, oil and gas emissions from the nation’s electrical grid and passenger vehicles. Many of the rollbacks put in motion aim to prop up the declining U.S. coal industry. Ellen Knickmeyer is an Associated Press writer.