If there is one thing that gets the Left riled up, it’s when President Trump uses his pen to wipe away Obama-era regulations. Gone. Poof. They’re history. He’s president now and liberals can’t really do much about it. The Trump administration is about to infuriate the Left again as he makes tweaks to the Obama-era regulations to the Clean Water Act (via CBS News):
The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce Thursday that it has finalized a repeal of the Obama-era clean water rule that spells out protections for large and small bodies of water, according to two congressional aides familiar with the plans.
The EPA will then write a new rule to replace the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) regulation, which was established in 2015. The Trump administration rule is expected to cover fewer waterways than the current one and weaken existing protections.
Soon after he was inaugurated, President Trump signed an executive order directing the EPA and the Army to "review and rescind or revise" the regulation. The order said that it's in the nation's interest to keep waterways free of pollution, while still promoting economic growth and cutting regulatory uncertainty.
Many businesses have opposed the WOTUS rule, arguing that it was overly broad. The National Federation of Independent Business sued the Obama administration over the rule, complaining that it gave the federal government "jurisdiction over seasonal streams, ponds, ditches, and even depressions fields that are dry through most of the year." The federation also took issue with the fact that business owners could be fined $50,000 per day for violating the rule.
Anything that rolls back the Environmental Protection Agency is a good thing. This agency has run amok for nearly a decade under Obama, screwing rural communities, placing coal miners in chokeholds, and ruining the retirements of Americans. It’ll take time to right the ship, but the EPA is no longer torpedoing businesses and American families.