Posted on 01/23/2020 8:57:42 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration appears ready to move ahead with its plan to remove protections for some of the nation’s millions of miles of streams, wetlands and arroyos, completing one of its most far-reaching environmental rollbacks.
The changes, promised by President Donald Trump in his first weeks in office, would sharply scale back the government’s interpretation of which waterways qualify for protection against pollution and development under the half-century-old Clean Water Act. Trump says he is targeting federal rules and regulations that impose unnecessary burdens on businesses.
The changes had been sought by industry, developers and farmers, but opposed by environmental advocates and public health officials. They say the changes would make it harder to maintain a clean water supply for the American public and would threaten habitat and wildlife.
The administration says the changes would allow farmers to plow their fields without fear of unintentionally straying over the banks of a federally protected dry creek, bog or ditch. But the government’s own figures show it is real estate developers and those in other nonfarm business sectors that take out the most permits for impinging on wetlands and waterways, and stand to reap the biggest regulatory and financial relief.
A draft version of the rule released earlier would end federal oversight for up to half of the nation’s wetlands, which provide buffers against flooding and climate change, and one-fifth of the country’s streams, the upstream sources of drinking water, environmental groups warned.
The rollback would be one of the most ambitious of the Trump administration″s wide-ranging cuts in federal protections on the environment and public health. While many rollback efforts have targeted regulations adopted under the Obama administration, the draft clean-water plan released earlier would lift federal protections for many waterways and wetlands that have stood for decades.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Lol...that is HILARIOUS! Spray that kudzu with Roundup! Yeah!
There he goes again. Contributing to that killer Climate Change epidemic.
We’re all gonna die. Orange Man Bad.
This will be a significantly misunderstood and propagandized issue. Most have no idea what this is and why it is bad.
Good, now I’ll get some of my land back!
The clean water act was one of the most abusive intrusion into private land ownership in US History. IT should be rolled back
One of the most egregious “waterways” offenses rulings was the Sackett case in Priest Lake, ID. They fought the EPA for almost fifteen years and lost in August 2019. Their construction site is away from the lake - it is separated from the lake by a road. The EPA argued the underground water was connected to the lake and won.
I hope President Trump is able to roll back every executive order that traitor signed. He's well on his way.
Good. Don’t know how much will go away, but there’s plenty that’s been overdone in this area for years.
slowly inching closer to making looney leftists stroke out...
love it...
As the regs stand now, at a federal level, developers, farmers, land owners, BASICALLY EVERYBODY who wants to put a shovel in previously “undisturbed soil” must have a survey done, by law, to get permission from the government and prove they will not adversely impact the “environment,” the wildlife or storm water control and drainage.
The problem is, you have to hire a certified company to do the work and give you this report. The problem with THAT is, each of those companies also provide “mitigation” services. So if the company you hire finds a puddle on a property that has vegetation or “life” dependent on that puddle, it can be designated a “federal wetland.” But don’t worry, there are ways to build on that spot as long as you duplicate the environment in another spot to support that dependent vegetation or life. This is basically the mitigation.
Farmers work hard to make sure the do not have standing water or erosion of irrigation ditches on their property. And just go ahead and add a pond to a small creek that runs through your property (helps storm water and provides habitat and livestock drinking water). You can’t just hire a dud and his tractor to dig a hole. No, you will have to have DNR, EPA and the Fed involved to give you permission. Land owners have been fined by the government for having beavers build damns in streams. But it is illegal to disturb a beaver damn. WTF!
Trump is right but the media will cry about him wanting dirty water and toxic rivers.
A second case....100 years ago, the farmer dug a ditch across his property...almost 3000 ft long. It drained into a creek. The DEC said the ditch was and always had been a wetland, referring to it as a tributary. They based it on their criteria for soil types. The Engineer did soil tests along the entire ditch and proved the DEC wrong. The ditch was not a wetland...only the stream at the edge of the property was a wetland. It was a big duh.
“The clean water act”
Typical Marxist tactic. “Only an evil monster would be a against a clean water act”
Obama’s Administration DID go overboard and basically declared any damp ground within miles of ANY drainage as being under purview / control of the Federal Government EPA and associated agencies. This Obama action(s) were done as Executive Orders, Agency Rulings and Regulation expansion, NOT as explicit new Laws passed by Congressional Legislation.
Now the AP clutches at its pearls as all of the environmental groups rant at what horrors will result from Trump’s actions. Yes, his actions MIGHT swing further than what Obama had done BUT there has been a lot done over the decades by the EPA that has frankly exceeded its establishing legislation. Some pruning is almost certainly called for.
Consider this as a thought experiment, if the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were to fully implement what its name signifies, would not its efforts be to exterminate any and all human interactions with the environment. FYI: there is a LEO section of the EPA and they are armed with automatic weapons, why does that make me frown?
If he’s killing that river Navigator BS, excellent. Every raindrop became something to be managed under that idiocy.
Massive over reach!
I have an area of my property that is wet for most of the year. Three intermittent streams flow into it. Many of the larger Quaking Aspen trees(1-2’ diameter) fall over in wind storms. Several are leaning against other trees creating Widow Makers.
I would like to log this area and then dig a pond. I have had a couple excavation contractors tell me not to touch it without state approval. I have contacted the town and gotten the NH State Environmental Services information on what I would need to do. I just do not think it is worth it.
The silly thing is it would entirely be on my property.
True Story...
I worked in Commercial Property Development several years ago. In that line of work, I did some consulting for potential clients (usually for free to win their business) when requested.
In one case I was invited to look at a property that an investor had purchased that he wanted to develop. It was about 120 acres of farmland, a large rectangular plot with some slight rolling elevation, nothing too drastic. We hopped in my 4x4 truck and drove out across the field. I found two small areas that did not currently have water in them but did have “cat tails” growing that were about 4’ tall. One of these areas was about 10’x5’ the other was about 50’ x 100’. I told him we should not discuss this property again until he has this whole property tilled and pushed some dirt into those spots. After that, we would start this consult again. To this day, he has no idea how valuable that advice was.
They are hassling him about altering a wetland.
And no he did not file for a permit and is not about to do so.
It was called “WOTUS”, Waters of the United States. It would make any land that has a pond or a creek worthless. The WOTUS made any standing or moving water a navigable waterway, giving them jurisdiction of it. It would have been a massive asset destroying over reach by the Feds.
Another gift from Obama and his party.
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