LANSING -- Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel today issued the following statement on the Trump administration’s finalized Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR), which will significantly scale back the waters regulated under the Clean Water Act:
"The Clean Water Act's job is to provide a federal floor of water protection, not a basement," said Nessel. "States share water resources with one another, and without protective national standards these shared resources will be subject to the standards of the lowest common denominator. The Trump administration has once again ignored science by continuing to try to turn back the clock on environmental protection and has arbitrarily removed protections from important water resources based on lobbying from special interest groups."
The 2015 Waters of the United States Rule (WOTUS) clarified which bodies of water were subject to federal oversight under the Clean Water Act. Once published in the Federal Register, the final NWPR rule will complete the Trump administration’s efforts to replace the 2015 WOTUS rule, with a less protective rule that results in many smaller wetlands and streams being unregulated.
"As Michiganders, we have a responsibility to be good stewards of not only the Great Lakes, but all of our waterways and wetlands. I will be challenging this decision," Nessel added.*
* Editor's Note: See also: "Legendary Water Protector Robert Kennedy Jr. Goes in-Depth on Trump Clean Water Act Rollbacks." (EnviroNews Exclusive)
