{"id":87537,"date":"2017-12-18T07:32:03","date_gmt":"2017-12-18T12:32:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=87537"},"modified":"2017-12-18T10:05:09","modified_gmt":"2017-12-18T15:05:09","slug":"schneiderman-leads-coalition-of-11-ags-in-epa-clean-water-protection-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=87537","title":{"rendered":"Schneiderman leads coalition of 11 AGs in EPA clean water protection challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"AGs: Proposed Two-Year Suspension of \u201cClean Water Rule\u201d Would Violate Federal Law and Rollback Decades of Clean Water Protections<\/em><\/p>\n

Rollback Would Put At Risk 5,700 Miles Of Streams That Feed Into NY\u2019s Drinking Water Sources \u2013 Which Help Provide Drinking Water To 56% Of New Yorkers<\/em><\/p>\n

Further, Administrator Pruitt Has Illegally Refused to Recuse Himself \u2013 Despite Previously Bringing Litigation Against Clean Water Rule and Appearing in Anti-Clean Water Rule Promo Videos While Leading EPA<\/em><\/p>\n

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, leading a coalition of 11 Attorneys General, challenged the legality of a Trump Administration proposed two-year suspension of the \u201cClean Water Rule,\u201d a federal regulation that defines \u201cwaters of the United States\u201d under federal law.\u00a0In comments addressed to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE), the coalition charges that the proposed suspension of the Clean Water Rule \u2013 which is designed to ensure the nation\u2019s lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands receive proper protection under the federal Clean Water Act \u2013 would violate federal law in multiple respects.<\/p>\n

Click here to read the comments<\/a>.\u00a0Joining Attorney General Schneiderman in the comments are the Attorneys General of California, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.<\/p>\n

\u201cClean water is a basic right \u2013 fundamental to New Yorkers\u2019 health, environment, and economy,\u201d\u00a0Attorney General Schneiderman\u00a0said.\u00a0\u201cThe Trump administration\u2019s proposed suspension of the Clean Water Rule is clearly illegal, and would jeopardize the clean, healthy water on which New Yorkers rely. Attorneys General will fight back against this reckless \u2018dirty water\u2019 proposal, and the Trump administration\u2019s continued assault on our nation\u2019s core public health and environmental protections.\u201d<\/p>\n

A lake, river, stream, wetland, or any other kind of surface water is afforded protection under the Clean Water Act only if it is a \u201cwater of the United States.\u201d\u00a0Supreme Court decisions in 2001 and 2006, and ambiguity in regulations dating back to 1980, led to substantial uncertainty as to whether some waters \u2013 particularly, small, seasonal, or rain-dependent streams, wetlands, and tributaries \u2013 are considered waters of the United States.\u00a0As a result, roughly 20,000,000 wetland acres and 2,000,000 miles of streams in the Continental United States were lost, or were placed in jeopardy of losing, their protections under the Clean Water Act.\u00a0These at-risk streams help provide drinking water to 117 million Americans \u2013 including 56 percent of New Yorkers.<\/p>\n

The uncertain protection of waters put at risk 60 percent of our nation\u2019s streams \u2013 and at least 55 percent of New York\u2019s stream miles \u2013 and millions of acres of wetlands nationwide of federal protection.\u00a0 This left these waters \u2013 and the downstream waters with which they connect \u2013 vulnerable to increased flooding, pollution, damage to hunting and fishing habitat, and fouling of the drinking water supplies.<\/p>\n

The 2015 Clean Water Rule, which the Trump Administration wants to suspend, clarified what types of waters are covered by the Clean Water Act, thereby securing their protection. The Rule was based on over 1,200 peer-reviewed scientific studies that demonstrated how many waters are connected by networks of tributaries, intermittent streams, and wetlands.\u00a0Because of this \u201cinterconnectivity,\u201d physical, chemical, and biological pollution from wetlands and relatively small or infrequently-flowing upland streams often impact larger downstream waters, such as rivers, lakes, estuaries, and oceans.\u00a0All of the lower 48 states have waters that are downstream of other states; New York, for example, is downstream of 13 states.\u00a0As such, New York and other states are recipients of water pollution generated not only within their borders, but also from upstream sources outside their borders over which they lack jurisdiction.<\/p>\n

On November 22, 2017, the EPA and ACOE proposed to suspend applicability of the Clean Water Rule for two years and reinstate the old and inadequate regulations \u2013 dating back to at least 1980 \u2013 that had been in place prior to the Clean Water Rule.\u00a0It was these nearly 40-year-old rules, whose dated science and lack of clarity as to which waters are \u201cwaters of the United States,\u201d that had led to years of confusing and inconsistent interpretations by agencies and federal courts. If the suspension rule is finalized, the outdated 1980 regulations would replace the Clean Water Rule.<\/p>\n

In their comments, the coalition of Attorneys General state that EPA and ACOE are in \u201cwholesale breach of foundational administrative law principles\u201d and that the suspension rule is \u201cin blatant violation\u201d of federal law requirements, and is otherwise arbitrary, capricious, and exceeds the agencies\u2019 legal authority.\u00a0The coalition charges that, among other things, the agencies have:<\/p>\n