Trump ​Instructs EPA ​to Reevaluate ​​WOTUS Rule

President Donald Trump ordered the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers to review and potentially withdraw the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President of Environment, Technology and Regulatory Affairs, William Kovacks approved of Trump’s decision in a release, calling WOTUS “essentially a federal land grab.”

“America’s businesses, farmers and other land owners and managers will be happy to see it reconsidered and properly withdrawn,” Kovacks continued.

Wyoming’s senior Senator Mike Enzi called the executive order “a good first step for people across the country worried about the EPA’s attempt to regulate every creek and pond.”

The poster-case illustrating WOTUS’ overreach was Wyoming rancher Andy Johnson, who built a stock pond for his cattle and sheep in 2012, after receiving a permit to do so from the Wyoming State Engineer’s Office.

The EPA informed Johnson that the pond, connected to Six Mile Creek south of Ft. Bridger, was in violation of the Clean Water Act (which was in place before WOTUS) and went about fining him $37,500 every day until he complied with their orders to remove the stock pond.

The fines grew to more than $20 million.

Instead of complying, Johnson sued the EPA in U.S. District Court and won. He was allowed to keep his pond after making a few environmental improvements to it.

The 13 states filing against WOTUS had their hearing in North Dakota Federal District Court, where the judge approved a temporary injunction blocking WOTUS from taking effect in those 13 states.

The following year, in June of 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that landowners could challenge the federal government on which wetlands and streams it can regulate under WOTUS. “Although the win in this case doesn’t eliminate WOTUS, it does give farmers, ranchers and other landowners a way to fight back,” said Montana Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Hanson.

Trump’s executive order may be WOTUS’ nail in the coffin.

Read more at: Wyoming Business Report

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