"85 Environmental Rules are/have Been Rolled Back Under Trump"
This reminds me of Trump`s favorite story about a woman who took in a sick poisonous snake which eventually bit her saying "I am a snake. That`s what I do."
Well America , maybe you are not really better than the Trump-Kushner crime family & their abettors or is it that there are too many voters who can be fooled ALL of the time ?
7
What a pack of fools we have at the EPA now. People are dying because of dirty air, dirty water pesticide contamination. The regulations were put in place to protect lives. The Democrats need to start focusing on this as a campaign issue. It's one thing to talk about a health plan for americans but the underlying causes of so much cancer and disease needs to be looked at -- industry and agriculture out of control for what they can expose the rest of us to.
10
This is one of the worst actions Trump and his administration are taking! Humans need clean water and that really needs to be a law!
7
Several US District Court decisions - most recently 5/28/19 and 8/21/19 - have blocked enforcement of Obama's WOTUS Rule in 14 states and remanded the Rule back to EPA. Like it or not, Obama's WOTUS rule was dead before this current administrative action.
1
There's nothing in this article about the implications of this criminal irresponsibility for the country's international treaty obligations in respect of preserving the health of international waterways.
6
Maybe the “ replacement will be to require all small, family, organic farms!
Right.
2
Somebody needs to tell the polluters that Trump's time in office is limited, and any "rollback" is only temporary. If you want to dump poison into the nation's water supply with impunity then frankly I could care less about any property rights you claim give you the right.
4
No one wants to hurt farmers or ranchers, but the Bottom line is we need to protect our Water. We have had bad things happen in Flint, and Newwark. If our water goes bad ranchers will have bigger problems than extra forms to file.
3
Now that I've received even more hysterical responses to my original comment, let me say a few things more. Despite scattered problems here and there, how many people seriously don't have safe drinking water in this country that would be improved by these new Obama era regulations? Some folks complained about not seeing any bees or wasps this summer - seriously? I was at Home Depot here in Florida yesterday buying plants and I had to shoo away the bees to get anywhere near the plants. In my summer house in upstate NY I again had a huge hornets nest in my shed and multiple wasps nests attached to the outside of my house.
Do you really trust more government involvement in various sectors of the economy to wring out a few minor improvements in water quality while not at the same time damaging or destroying the economic viability of these industries? I suspect that many commenters here live very comfortable lives in cities and suburbs where they don't have to make a living off the land. Wonder how long before you start complaining about not being able to get natural gas for your home or business in NY State due to Cuomo's refusal to allow any new natural gas pipelines.
The worst of America's water quality problems have been addressed by the original Clean Water Act. And the Obama era regulations have not yet been implemented anyway due to multiple lawsuits so Trump is not reversing anything that is in effect.
1
Dont we remember that for most of our lives, manufacturers had their plants on rivers and waterways so they could dump their waste directly into them? As an example, you could smell the stench of the French Broad river (in Ashville NC) because woolen mills dumped their waste into it. Then came the cleanup of our rivers and the return of life to them. This was a good by-product of US manufacturing closing down and going to China. Now The ignorant WH wants to go back to those years and let manufacturers pollute rivers and waterways again. Vote them out!
6
Continued from my earlier reply to Dady:
Ultimately, all of this administration's graft, corruption and immorality aside, just like we have laws to protect the public from dangerous drivers on our nations shared highways and streets, so too DID we have hard-fought laws on the books to protect society's right to clean air and water from abusers.
Your argument, pun intended, holds no water whatsoever, and reflects an uninformed, illogical and extremely short-sighted view.
Not surprising, as that's something we've come to expect from supporters of this divisive and illegally-elected administration and the bought-and-paid-for 1%/corporation-embracing Republican Party.
5
It is becoming increasingly evident that the current administration is simply a subversive cabal bent on the destruction of the country.
Either that, or they are complete idiots.
8
Who needs clean water when there is money to be made? Successful people can buy bottled water and those who have to drink dirty water have only themselves to blame for their lack of initiative. MAGA
3
Thank goodness America is being Made Great Again. I know we were all sick and tired of Clear Air and water.
11
The EPA used stand for the Environmental Protection Agency. Now it stands for Everyday Pollute America. It's ok. We should show the President, we can walk and chew gum, at the same time. Then spit it out on the sidewalks in front of the entrances of every property he owns. Since he doesn't care about our environment, why should we care about his. We can call it the Bubble Gum Pollution Revolution. Just a thought, but maybe it will show the Polluter in charge, how we feel about his EPA. Maybe some Non Violent Activism, might do some good?
4
I think the repeals mask themselves behind a handful of events that have gone wrong. As long as one small farmer gets punished for mishandling an irrigation or fertilizer project, then the story of how draconian the clean water act is can be written and used to undo all of the advances that have been made in the past.
1
Rescinding WOTUS is an obvious attempt by the industries supplying pesticides, fertilizers and other inputs of industrial agriculture to further reduce their own liabilities for unacceptable environmental harms caused by their products. They had already shifted the burden of blame and liability to the farmers and applicators of their products with the capture of regulatory agencies, primarily EPA.
Astroturfing by the ag industry made this into a "freedom to farm" issue which is an extremely corrupt reading of property rights that reduces your rights to know of their toxic trespasses into the commons, other private properties and into the cells of your bodies.
5
This goes right along with that Republican Congressman's epithet a few years back: "Why don't they all just die". Well, they will including children, and including Republicans. Going to your death with a large bank account is evidently worth it to those who care little about their own country, and now run it.
7
Welcome to the United States of Flint, MI.
4
Water is our single most precious resource (you wouldn't survive more than a few days without it) and should be treasured and protected. But instead of enforcing and strengthening rules intended to keep your water clean and drinkable, the Trump Administration is making it easier and profitable to contaminate it. This is an unnecessary, perverse and destructive action by the Trump Administration.
5
Anyone on this thread who solely lives in an urban environment has no standing in this discussion. To the rest of homeowners and property owners this Obama law was an affront to decent law abiding Americans. I trust now that he has property on Martha’s Vineyard, which is one giant wetland, he too will applaud Trump(privately of course)
5
@Dady why would he applaud the rollbacks of clean water regulations?
17
@Dady
Anyone that doesn't understand the long-term consequences of the on-going attacks on this country's citizens by the massive rollbacks (if not total elimination) in environmental protections on OUR air and water quality by this immoral administration and its co-dependent, rubber-stamping Republican Party has no standing in this nation, much less discussion.
The TRUE affront is against those very self-same law-abiding citizens you mistakenly believe will somehow profit from these attacks on our environment.
These new rollbacks in air and water quality are NOT meant to protect mom and pop farmers; that's not who was behind these immoral reversals. Nope, we're talking about heavily-funded lobbies of inexplicably heavily-federally funded "Big Agra" corporations-already the beneficiaries of over $20 BILLION DOLLARS in federal "aid"!
Take a look at the breakdown of Trump & the republican party's recent $28 BILLION DOLLAR bribe to American farmers--despite the FACT that the vast majority of farmers already take advantage of the government's CHEAP Revenue Insurance policies that already cover them monetarily and crop subsidies--with less than 10% of "farmers" receiving over 60% of the $28 billion dollar bribe...with certainly far more on the way as we approach the 2020 election.
38
@Dady Anyone on this thread who tries to suppress / disqualify the opinions of any American citizen that drinks water has no standing in this discussion.
32
How will Hannity discuss this issue? Will Sinclair Boradcasting allow their affiliates to even mention it? How, exactly, does this make America great?
1
Did anyone who voted for Trump actually object to clean water?
6
Surprised at the timing of this repeal given all the problems we’ve had with our waterways this summer. Presume the professionals at EPA and the Army Corps knew what they were doing when they wrote the rules being repealed. Would withhold a final opinion until it is clear what the revised rules are. However my fear is that the amateur appointees will pander to greedy special interests and allow more chemicals to be introduced into the environment when what we need is less.
2
Corporations own/control most of the farmland in this country. Once again the current Republican leadership shows who and what they represent, corporations and short term profits over the health of people and the earths finite resources.
As a lifelong Republican, I am proud that it was Republicans who created the EPA, we need new representation, please vote!
5
High quality EPA data about the extent of pollutants in counties across the United States used to be available to the public. You could look at the EPA website to see the measure of certain pollutants in your streams, water ways, and soil. Very shortly after the inauguration of this terrible regime, all that data was no longer available online to the public. This is data we all paid for so we could make informed decisions about health and other public policies. This terrible regime removed the data from sight so that people don't have current data linking the extent of pollutants in your area to health conditions in the population. It bears some serious reflection: the public's right to have information they can use to compare the extent of pollutants in their water with health risks to themselves, their children and their food sources has been hidden from sight by this very dangerous regime. The repeal of clean water regulations thus goes forward without any risk of accountability. This ruling will have long term health consequences for people who are denied the right to know what is in their water, soil and air.
4
“When you take private property rights from a man who’s worked all his life,” Mr. Duvall said, “that is very intrusive to him and it’s something he just can’t stand for.”
Never mind the poisoning of the water supply that they, their family, and their farm rely upon. Never mind the destruction of the biodiversity that enables them to farm. Shame these private property owners can't keep their contaminated water on their own private land for their own private use.
5
They are rolling back the definition of waters of the US to the 1986 definition which was what we worked with during the Clinton administration. The Supreme Court decisions removed some waters, mostly prairie playas, from regulation.
The Trump administration can try to reduce the definition below what was used in 1986 but unless they can find federal judges that completely ignore precedent, they will fail. Obviously, they have some chance of convincing the current supreme court that precedent should be overturned, I doubt this will happen. The Supreme Court has had a lot of problems (see Rapanos case) with this issue. They see it like pornography, they cannot define it, but they know it when they see it.
A slippery slope. Farmers would not intentionally pollute their children's drinking water. But what might or might not be "OK" should be decided with extreme caution and scientific processes of investigation. If there are advanced and irrefutable studies that result in specific legislation - ready to go and be enforced - until then, Obama's rule of 2015 should stand.
Sounds like the same reason Trump is fighting California's efforts to limit car emissions. Ignorance at best.
7
It is a sad day when everyone would not want to protect water. God only gave us so much. Maybe there is a brilliant scientist that will come up with a formula to make water.Greed !dear God how much money do people need👀😭
2
Does he care at all that he is killing people?
3
@Linda
That would be a big no, so long as he can stick it to President Obama, make a buck off of it, or let his cronies make another buck. That such thoughtless actions endanger the very air we breathe and water we drink simply doesn’t enter into the equation.
2
So when bald eagles start dying off again because chemical poisoning is thinning the shells of their eggs, the creature can bleat “See? Windmills!”, and Monsanto can laugh all the way to the bank. Impeach the thing. Now.
5
Donald Trump now attacks our basic elements for survival. The man has no shame. While praising the intelligence of the American electorate, he secretly knows that they can be led around like bulls with nose rings - only instead of bull rings, he uses their beliefs and prejudices to lead them wherever he wants. If DJT doesn't destroy our fragile democracy, he has published the blueprint and playbook for some other demagogue to do it later. If a democracy like America's is going to exist, there will have to be a paradigm shift in human thought throughout the world. In the near future, we will program the human mind in the computer based on a "survival" algorithm, which will provide irrefutable proof as to how we trick the mind with our ridiculous beliefs about what is important and what is supposed to survive - producing minds programmed de facto for dirty tricks and destruction. These minds see the survival of a particular belief as more important than the survival of us all. When we understand this, we will begin the long trek back to reason and sanity.
See RevolutionOfReason.com
1
We know they play dirty. Now it is play dirty with dirty water.
4
I do not know what is more outrageous. Trump and the G.O.P.`s continued assault on the environment which puts every living creature on Earth in danger; or the morons who continue to bury their heads in the sand as the planet becomes unable to support life due to this mindless and slavish idea that only jobs and the pursuit of money matter. This fascist philosophy is not only crazy, but sinful. We have been made the custodians of a world that stands alone as being capable of supporting life. The pie in the sky idea that we can just somehow find another planet to move to is just plain nuts. We either stop polluting Mother Earth; or we kill the only home we have. PERIOD. Stop the INSANITY!
6
Let me get this straight. Trump repeals another Obama's policy, not because this move makes sense (because it doesn't), but because he wants to please the people who voted for him. What I don't understand is why people would want to roll back these policies. (Stop thinking of your pocketbook and think instead of the long term.) Don't we all want clean water? Leave Obama's policies alone!
5
Trump is doing this all for votes. He knows that once he leaves the White House he'll be back in NYC where our tap water is the closest thing to spring water. And the way New York state laws are this chemical pollution of our watershed is not going to happen. We already lived through fires on lakes in the 1970s. We witnessed history unlike many people in red states who are obsequious to Trump. Sadly they will come down with cancers and respiratory diseases. Trump will be drinking his NYC water free from chemical runoff from agriculture chemicals.
1
This is in keeping with that "government is the problem" declaration Reagan announced. That's identical to saying republicans have no intention of representing the interests of the vast majority of Americans at all. That the regulation was an Obama regulation is the whole reason to attack it and throw a mouse out onto Trump's Monkey Island of supporters for the reaction. Its all perfectly Pavlovian conditioning in effect and appeals to republicans voters' sense of tyranny. Say the name Hillary or Obama and watch the salivation begin. The fact is, Republicans exist for the next time they can get close to the treasury to rifle. There's nothing else to conclude if they're not going to represent our interests per environment, infrastructure (The Wall doesn't count as infrastructure, its a monument to Trump). Infrastructure funding is the litmus test for representing our interests. Pollution as campaign tactic. It just makes my head spin at the absurdity. He profits from his position and now he's destroying our environment. We have to get this dishonest sub human out of our White House ...and soon. Its what a majority of Americans want. I'm tired of being lied to and stolen from.
2
Trump is slowly providing opportunities for mining interest to have easier, uncheck access to pristine waterways such as Bristol Bay in AK. Bristol Bay is our salmon fishery's crown jewel. Unless Trump is voted out, I expect he will gladly give away our natural resources without any regard for science or long term consequences.
6
And this is supposed to "Make America Great Again?" Taking this country back to revisit another Gilded Age when less than 5 percent of Americans lived like kings and queens and the rest paupers living in polluted squalor is not my idea of greatness.
3
To defeat Trump, honest people must focus on his indecency and dishonesty, along with his disrespect for the law.
Trump has no decency and --not only --degrades our planet -- but also -- but even -- decent people. I know decent people who voted for Trump. They now see the horror of that choice. I heard many of them recant and apologize for their choice.
Some of those "decent" friends voted for a "decent" man like Mike Pence - by rationalizing that they despised TRUMP so much, that they voted for Mike Pence, who would help rid America of abortion.
Decent people must recognize that someone like an indecent Trump is not pro-life. He is simply not a person of pro-life decency. It's evident with everything he does and says.
We need a party of decency in the oval office.
3
Feel free to pollute all you want - as long as you keep in on your property. We don't want you sharing. Somebody's paying for your pollution, i don't want it to be me.
3
Choking on water that is undrinkable is not a please experience. Ask Flint Michigan how it feels.
3
Trump waxes nostalgic for a bygone era, eager to return us to the dawn of the Industrial Revolution -- a time when there were no environmental regulations to stifle corporate profits .... and the air thick with putrid smoke and auto exhaust pollutants, fresh water foaming with heavy metals and noxious organic carcinogens, and the soil laden with toxicants of all types.
2
How Wheeler can look his offspring in the eye after willfully encouraging large-scale damage to the planet they'll inherit is a mystery. I wish him severely ill tidings on behalf of literally everyone in the world.
2
All those communities, who are about to get water with pesticides, fertilizers or simply manure, shall track back the source of pollution and sue the polluter out of existence. All of them.
4
"Sorry kid's." That's all we are going to be able to tell our grandchildren. We are allowing a "nobody," to destroy our planet while we turn our heads. A cruel, vile, nasty little man who should be in prison for all the awful thing's he's done to people throughout his privileged life. I'd be mighty scared to meet my maker if I were him.
3
Trump is out to poison people in red states who mostly voted for him. If you no longer need a permit and can start dumping chemicals imagine where that could lead. It's bad enough people dump chemicals when there are laws.
1
Decidedly, the article is misleading. The rule being changed, the Obama rule, summarily expanded the reach of the federal governments coercive powers by redefining what water features fell within the ambit of the Clean Water Act. This meant that more land in the vicinity of these features could not be disturbed absent the obtaining of a federal permit. This in turn meant that any number and variety of activities by human beings on these newly included lands would and could be regulated and banned by the federal government or effectively blocked or delayed by opponents of the activity by resort to federal court processes. History teaches us that The greatest threat to citizens’ civil liberties and freedoms is the concentration of power by government. The announced change to the Obama rule contributes to the vitality of our democracy and by reducing this threat.
2
I suppose you don’t value clean water and a healthy ecosystem? The greatest threat to mankind is his ignorance of natural systems and our interdependence with them.
Do you know what is happening to fish populations, what happens when these pesticides enter the waterways? The insect die off? - pollinators viral to food production? Clean air?
Everyone with your stance should spend a few months in Kathmandu, Bangladesh, Shanghai, where the children wear masks to match their clothing, where you have to hold your nose to drive by the sacred river, where emissions pour through your open window because there are no regulations, where eight year olds sound like eighty year old smokers.
No you are wrong- your attitude is destroying the planet and all living things vital to our survival. Guess what ? It’s not just you living on planet earth.
4
@Craig Mayer
History also teaches us that environmental degradation is disastrous in many ways, including economically. The destruction of fisheries from agricultural runoff and the pollution of drinking water by industry will cost us dearly. Everything is connected, and I don't mean that in some New Age sense.
2
Trump will undo anything Obama accomplished. He does not care about the consequences. He does not care about environmental protection. Yet, he has claimed many time to be an environmentalist. Watch what he does, not what he says, and you will see nothing but arbitrary uses of power for is own political and economic gain.
6
"When you take private property rights from a man who’s worked all his life,” Mr. Duvall said , “that is very intrusive to him and it’s something he just can’t stand for."
Water running through Mr. Duvall's property is not his exclusively to pollute. It's dumbfounding in this day and age that people cannot think beyond their own selfish interests to comprehend the interconnections upon which the life and health of their property and that of their neighbors depend.
Owing property doesn't give anyone the right to pollute and adversely affect neighbors' property downstream. It's taken decades to clean up bays and lakes. This change potentially reverses all the progress made. The environment and water resources necessary to sustain life are fragile enough without further degradation. This is a mistake Congressional legislation must reverse permanently.
17
Some of those rules were badly written and had unintended consequences. Because of the stream buffer rules - meant to cover farmers disturbing waterways near their fields but actually affecting residential areas as well - as large part of my property is effectively turned into a conservancy against my will. The rule limits me and this has affected my property value. One elderly neighbor tried to sell her house last year, on the other side of my creek. The house itself is far enough away from the creek but because of the stream buffer rules a number of people lost interest in the property and it hasn't sold.
2
While much of the rest of the world is working toward protecting the environment, Trump seems to point the USA in the direction of Brazil with the immediate financial gratification of plunder. I suppose a president in his 70s really does not give a flip that life expectancy is highly correlated with the quality of the environment.
18
When you pollute a smaller tributary of a river the pollution flows eventually flows into a larger body of water due to gravity. Ponds that are toxic eventually leach into groundwater. Ephemeral streams get flushed when it rains. There is no separating tributaries from thier eventual outfall to a larger system. Non-point source pollution is made of many small amounts of pollution coming from different places to make one big pollution. This happens when the polluted smaller tributaries flow into 'the waters of the state or the United States '. Obama reduced non-point source pollution while Trump is increasing it.
Andrew Wheeler is unfit to lead the EPA which the Trump administration has hollowed to nothing but a shell. As the population of humans grow and the uncertainty of climate increases this is a horrendous repeal.
Toxic algae blooms, red tides, cyanobacteria will go up. We all need clean water to live, you can't drink money.
28
@Nicole Smeeding
None of Trump’s appointees are fit to lead the positions he gives them.
He puts in acting Secretaries so he can go around Congress.
This Sociopathic President can only issue kingly decrees. He has no idea how to ‘deal’, no idea how to negotiate.
He thinks a win-win is a loss for him.
This is one seriously messed up person.
After this is over all contenders for Presidential Candidates should be vetted for Sociopathy and Psychopathy.
4
Since potus thinks it’s safe, he and his extensive family should be treated to that water and eat the fish that live in that water until he is out of office.
32
@Caesar Somebody needs to show him that old "Simpsons" episode with the three-eyed fish, right?
14
it looks more and more like something really bad is going to happen to the world , sooner than later , because Americans are not able to think.
24
For Republicans, money comes first, even before human life. If you remember how things were before the EPA, you will recognize what Trump is doing. If this is making America great again, I don't what to go there.
31
Not that there is a need to get all excited but Trump is just doing these things just as practice and as numbing agents for when he Rolls Back the Constitution.
Sure you think he is kidding about that third term for life/
21
Gee, what a great argument -- "It's our land, we should be able to do what we want."
Well, guess what. Water flows. It doesn't just stay on your land. It will have the power to pollute countless others' properties. It will have the power to contaminate the water used to irrigate crops. It will have the power to poison the drinking water supply.
You might as well start lobbying for the right to launch missiles from your land, even if they're pointed at neighboring cities. (But hey! It's your land!)
21
For summer reading, one of my kids was assigned the book, Silent Spring.
We always believed the chromosomal condition discovered at age 3 had been genetically derived, or some random occurrence, at least that's what medical professionals told us as costs and anxiety accrue. But this book led my kid down a different road, towards DDT, Benzene, and other chemicals that could have instead been the cause. We learned how cells can be corrupted, long into the future, not by chance or some vaccine, but potentially from the impact of degraded toxic water, soil, food, and air. Chemicals stored in our bodies and manifesting in our birthed babies, undetected. How much of our healthcare albatross, pain and suffering of prematurely sick people, childhood cancers, autism, etc. are caused by our most notorious polluters who remain meaningfully unaccountable and still lobby to reduce responsibility and total transparency? I consider Mr. Trump's actions to be a death sentence, favoring Pence donors. How many more vulnerable children must be born to a community with filthy toxic water, soil and air?
If 175 CEO's can come together in support of tighter gun restrictions, and Four Major Auto Manufacturers can overrule destructive regulatory rollbacks, striving to meet increased emission standards beyond what is required by law, then Chemical Manufacturers and Energy Companies can also voluntarily accommodate the Clean Water Act as revised by Mr. Obama, if not better imagined.
29
@Underhiseye-Thank you. I can't up vote this enough. Deserves to be the NY Times' pick.
5
This administration wants to make it sound like this is commonsense solution for small farmers and individuals that have to struggle to comply with these regulations.
In fact, as is the case with all of this president's stripping of regulations of protections of our air, land and water, this is yet another gift to the huge companies and corporations that line his war chest.
Marketing it as helping everyday Americans is a ruse.
If this were the case he would have loosened the regs but carved out exceptions for the large entities posed to create the most damage..organizations most able to be able to comply with these rules with the least damage to their bottom lines.
21
First land, then air and now water. I'd call that a pattern of assault on the planet. It will be Trump's lasting legacy to his kids and ours.
17
That’s the traditional republican nonsense we are used to. Same short sighted idiocy.
12
Once again he is using his position to financially benefit himself.
What do golf courses the most unnatural monoculure places on earth use more than even our factory farms use?
CHEMICALS!
You have to constantly fertilize them and use Roundup or something similar to keep down the dandelions and other weeds. He's just lowering his costs of hiring bunches of illegals to do the weeding he can have done by one with a sprayer.
17
Is it possible to have a class action suit against the Trump administration for undoing all these necessary environmental restrictions?. They and Trump are acting against the public interests. They are willfully acting against the interests of the public that they are supposed to safeguard against harm. Trump is willfully sabotaging all these necessary environmental laws. He is gutting the safeguards and crippling the agency. He is hired by the people of the US to protect their interests and to keep them safe from harm. All the people, not just the rich. He works for us, we hire him. He obviously could not care less about the general public welfare.
20
@joyce Except you're talking about suits that would go through courts that have been stacked with conservatives by this administration. Yes, you'll probably find a sympathetic lower court judge with a heart and a conscience, but once it gets argued up to the higher levels, including the Trumpreme Court, it would likely be shot down faster than you can say "covfefe."
14
Trump wants to undo all environmental laws and let everybody fend for themselves. The advantage seems to be with the rich, but wait, I guess they eventually still have to drink and breathe the same air and water. Trump seems to be competing with himself to be as bad a president as possible and as good as possible to the very rich. But air and water pollution does not respect wealth or boundaries, it goes everywhere. I expect Trump thinks that he is immune from pollution effects, because he is so amazingly healthy, so far above the average person, so strong and so immune. But he sure does want reelection.
6
Trump wants no one left alive after he's dead.
It's the only logical conclusion.
19
Runoff can ruin an environment and cause dead zones. It can kill fish, deplete oxygen with algae growth, completely ruin lakes streams and even oceans eventually. Trump has no clue. He does not care about anything but his reelection. Period.
22
Well this is a good way for Trump to lose votes in the Great Lakes states, which have more than 20% of fresh water in the world, and 84% of North America’s fresh water.
19
Trump is an unstable individual, intent on taking everyone down with him because he feels he has been wronged and doesn’t have that many years left on this earth. He is also trying to undo everything Obama did out of spite. He needs to be removed and we have a lot of work to do to get this country back on the right path. I hope this move gets blocked in court and I plan to donate to the National Resources Defense Council tonight.
23
Will someone please explain why farmers who make their living off the land are AGAINST PROTECTING THAT LAND!?
18
Industrial monoculture farms are one of the biggest destroyers of ecosystems. My family were German farmers in Ohio outside Oberlin. The family farm is no more- The farm was leased for sod production for development in the 1980s, corn for feed and now soybeans. They use pesticides, then they have to use fertilizer bc the soil is so depleted. If you look in a square foot of industrial farming there is no other life form, no bugs, no microorganisms and no natural nutrients in the soil. My father designed for John Deere for thirty years. He said the big farmers now run those giant tractors remotely, they don’t want forest buffers. They don’t want to spend money and time going around the forests that traditionally border farms protecting them from wind and preventing erosion and keeping some sort of natural ecosystem in the sea of chemicals they use. They want more profit, they are not thinking. The dust bowl was because man thought they were beyond nature and will it to their use/ it doesn’t work that way. It destroys us eventually- it seems many on this earth want to drive full speed ahead into that abyss for short term financial gain.
2
Here’s an example of what that discharge permit might look like, and how easy it is to cause damage when you’re allowed to pollute through groundwater.
https://www.civilbeat.org/2019/08/maui-is-taking-this-clean-water-legal-fight-all-the-way-some-say-too-far/
As a follow-up, Maui County Council recently voted to settle the case, though I’m wondering if this rule change will allow them to keep discharging as before.
3
Trump is only putting more money in the hands of the rich who donate to his campaign. He is afraid of going to jail if he loses.That is a very real prospect that terfifies him. He does not care about water, clean or otherwise. He only cares about himself,always. Count on it.
13
we as a people are going down a slippery slope that just got dirtier, if we don't halt the mudslide or children will suffer years down the road
4
OF COURSE they did! Why not? All other regulations they have trashed and burned are part of the same deal.
So whose pockets get lined by this decision?
To all of you who comment that it is not a big deal/no problem, please sit down with your kids and grandkids ... have a wee chat. Explain to them how this isn't a big deal and they will be fine, both now and for the remaining decades of their lives.
No worries right?
7
Great! Making America great again! We have an axiom in wastewater treatment : "We all live down stream" The water you pollute we eventually get back to you!
8
What Obama ever do to Trump except make him look bad?
8
Donald Trump, President of the United States, is a monster!
13
“Some men just want to watch the world burn.”—Alfred Pennyworth
15
This sounds like a win for the military-industrial complex rather than the human being.
8
Never forget the huge pesticide and fertilizer companies- worldwide- huge billions of dollars industry.
Along with industrial pollution, runoff from rain events and over-irrigation can cause the flow of fertilizers into wetlands, watersheds, and coastal waters.
In the cast of runoff to an ocean, those nitrates can increase the growth of sea grasses which rob fish stocks of oxygen. And without fish, there is an absence of marine mammals who hunt for fish. Thus, the area becomes an underwater ghost town.
In Southern California, when otters and seals leave for other fishing grounds, the existing kelp forests are destroyed by infestations of sea urchins run amok.
Upshot: controlling industrial pollutants and landscape chemicals is necessary for the health of our waterways, natural wetlands, coastlines, rivers, lakes and streams. Trump has no clue, is uninterested in scientific evidence disproving his opinions.
15
The trump family and entire administration should be made to drink, bathe, shower, launder their clothes, etc., in the clean water they are promoting with their proposals to roll back and/or purge EPA regulations.
18
@Sally ...and all of the Trump voters as well.
11
In May of 2018, Politico and a few other news sources reported that trump, along with EPA-head, Scott Pruitt, sought to block the publication of a federal health study warning about a nationwide water contamination crisis, because a White House aide told them it would create a "public relations" nightmare.
It appears the trump administration is continuing to dirty up our water and environment with its harmful and corrupt policies. Do trump's Republican lackeys in the House and Senate really not care about the future of their children and grandchildren?
13
polluted water: better for everybody
2
@Douglas Zeiger If one gave this idea an eighth of a thought you'd realize since the beginning of time there hasn't been any new water made . Its all recycled with that in mind I have no clue who 'd want to poison themselves and their families for a piece of paper . Which is more important
2
I always thought the only water that should be available in EPA headquarters should be from western Pennsylvania fracking country.
Those vending machines would never need to be restocked!
8
Bring on the lawsuits! I just donated to the NRDC. The "president" and the Environmental Pollution Agency are ravaging our nation.
And yet, this criminal, treasonous president continues to violate all that is good.
13
Breathe dirty air.
Eat tainted food.
Help only yourself.
Vote Republican.
20
Earlier today, I was on the phone with a stranger when I saw this headline. I stopped the conversation, and mumbled something like: " I can't believe what I'm seeing now!"
"Trump Administration Rolls Back Clean Water Protections"
Fortunately, the woman understood the passion of my sentiments.
This is pure insanity from a blatantly deranged mind.
Hours later, I went looking for this story.
Here I am.
I'm back.
I'm furious,
. . . and motivated more than ever, to put an end to this man and his actions.
Soon, he will be held accountable by the rule of law and by the moral conscience of the American people.
His continuing actions are unconscionable -- indefensible -- and always amoral.
22
Unfortunately, the great majority of people reading this news, wherever it may be presented are the ones who care. The others who won't take a glance are mostly Trump supporters. Vote!
12
Every day.......it's one shocking announcement after another. No discussion, no run by Congress......just declaration after declaration.
Quietly, silently promoting his personal agenda and catering to big donors, dark money day after day. There is no conscience. There is no integrity. There is no contemplation, collaboration or honorable decision making. Trump has a sickle in his tiny hand....cutting down what our beloved nation has carefully cultivated over generations. No doubt he has never taken a river trip, camped among old growth forests, or listened to the people of Flint. My vote is on preserving our environment....and our sacred resources.
18
What I would like to know is why would this relaxation of the rule be difficult to overturn by future administration.
Can anyone fill me in?
2
and so let's hope, pray, and work hard for A NEW ADMINISTRATION.
10
This is the guy whose response to climate change is 'I want clear air and clean water.' I guess that doesn't mean all Americans get it.
And regardless of the nitpicking over Obama-era rules having gone too far, our water will be subject to more dumping of toxins. If it's anywhere in the environment, eventually it's everywhere. Some of these commenters must think they'll be okay if they just drink bottled water.
8
Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, said,“When you take private property rights from a man who’s worked all his life,” Mr. Duvall said, “that is very intrusive to him and it’s something he just can’t stand for.”
I reckon that means that Mr Duvall has no problems with poisoning the children of the present and future generations, as well as all living creatures of the land and waters with pesticides. What a strange mode of thinking.
11
@Svirchev I think I'm on your side when it comes to clean water protections, but I have a hard time equating "private property rights" and "poisoning the children."
1
@kenneth
It's simple. Mr. Duvall is claiming his ownership of property gives him the right to poison water that runs through it.
An not unaccomplished attorney once told me there’s no such thing as “compassionate” conservatives. I understand being fiscally tight, but will never ever understand the will to kill our only habitable planet.
15
Well America, there's always bottled water. You know, the stuff you have to pay for.
9
You mean the water Nestle gets practically free from the Great Lakes and other public places, uses lots more water to bottle it and puts it in plastic bottles which require more fossil fuel mining and burning to sell for lots of money? That water?
10
Poisoning us for profit.The Republican Way.
November 3, 2020.
22
Trump has already said he doesn’t care what happens to America after he’s dead.
Forget any thought he may care about his children or grandchildren.
Malignant Narcissists don’t care about their children or grandchildren, other than how they can enhance themselves and use them in other ways.
Psychiatrists know this, and call them psychopaths or sociopaths.
Psychologists know this.
Other mental health professionals know this.
The many thousands of adult children of malignant narcissists recognise Trump for what he is, and they know this.
No, Trump, the sociopath, couldn’t care less what happens to people, subsequent generations, the land, the water, the air.
He only cares about him self, his personal greed, and enriching other very wealthy people for what they will do for him in return.
Follow the sociopathy.
Follow the money.
15
This is evil and must be countered as such.
13
How can this not be against the law?
If it isn’t, the law must be changed.
7
And there goes our fresh water protection. Midwest factories will have a field day polluting their fresh water bodies. Trump has no clue how precious, fragile & dwindling these water sources are. Within 10 years 2/3 of the US will suffer fresh water shortages.
8
@Marcus
It’s worse than ‘he doesn’t have a clue’.
He doesn’t care!
He knows and doesn’t care.
All he sees is $.
Until Melania pressed him on vaping and E cigarettes, he didn’t care if they killed people/ teenagers/ children.
He said he saw vaping as ‘jobs’.
Unbelievably insane.
Trump is a Sociopath.
6
It’s only a private property issue if farmers’ and manufacturers’ fertilizers and other outputs stayed confined to their property. Once there in the water, they travel, flowing into other people’s private property who may not want them there. So one person or corporation’s property rights becomes some else’s problem. I hope those people sue for property damages.
Well, who needs clean water anyway. Ask Flint MI and Newark.
20
How dumb is the Farmers Federation! What happens on your property- "No Trespassing" sign or not- has serious ramifications for everybody! Once again the corrupt Trump administration has dialled in the increasing selfishness of many ignorant Americans.
16
@Mark Paskal I don't know much about the Farmers Federation or No Trespassing signes or Whatever it is you're trying to say. Would you translate, please?
The daily nightmare continues
Every morning we are confronted with another environmental catastrophe this president conjures
up so he can get back at Obama. Impeach this sorry excuse for a human being ASAP
14
He's been granting exemptions for a couple of years. A global uranium mining company was exempted in October, 2017; one of their sites is less than twelve miles from Refugio. They are extracting uranium from the water upstream, after injecting chemicals that stir up everything Then they claim it's 'cleaned' by injecting hydrogen peroxide or some such thing and sucking it back out of the ground downstream. I know correlation isn't causation, but something is poisoning us here. It can't be helping.
4
Nothing screams "moron" like supporting trump. If only we (not trumpites) could "spin them off" into their own broken nation and let them (painfully) go extinct. Barring that - We Blue State "makers" will have to continue to bail them out when they have nothing but pollution in their back yard wells.
14
Trump is the worst president we have ever had in my lifetime. What a foolish man. Cannot wait until he is out of office. So much damage and destruction in so many ways. There is something seriously wrong with him and not fit to run the United States of America.
17
I typically have difficulty understanding the Republican Party's efforts to create a dystopian America, but I think this one is pretty easy.
In my mind, it's a combination of the influence of Koch Industries and their libertarian hatred of any type of environmental regulation, coupled with the sheer pettiness of Trump to overturn everything President Obama accomplished.
15
The environmental protection agency's very name is misleading. It creates the impression that its role is to protect the environment while in fact it is a means by which a government can inform its people the type and level of pollution that is permitted.
Thus is the economic environment protected!
8
Hoping that some of the participants in tonight's debate will stress the importance of ousting the current President who seems intent on poisoning the earth, the air and the water, if it allows someone to make a profit.
8
Who needs clean water anyways?
A little lead, mercury, pesticide, or even pharmaceuticals flushed down the toilet never hurt anybody.
And we all know the very rich and their children will always be able to isolate and insulate themselves from a thoroughly poisoned environment, not.
A thought experiment, a before and after measurement:
Before the rollback, everyone should take a vial of their blood to a lab to get a list of all the trace amounts of hazardous chemicals currently in their blood (generally over 100 different chemicals). Then wait 5 years, and repeat. Then compare the lists.
5
Former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder did something similar in Flint, reduced water quality. He needs to go to prison. If these roll backs lead to sickness or death, it should become a criminal matter.
9
You know who benefits from rollbacks? Real estate developers. It's not just about Trump hating Obama and the environment but how Trump can benefit with condo projects and golf courses
10
Obama was right to tighten rules. Republicans really don't care about our environment. Don't believe anything they say. We have one ecosystem that sustains all life known to us. They think God will protect us. I think nature is God. They don't care about my God even though I can prove she exists.
12
Do you have children?
Then why would you support this?
If they're old enough to understand the environment, you need to speak with them about why you support this rollback.
It's their future - not yours.
7
I expect to see houses built on the wetlands (swampy bottomland) on the lots we pass as we leave our neighborhood, before this time next year. The builder wanted 12 homes, but only 4 would fit under the old rules. He'll fit 12 again now.
Phragmites sway in the wind, giving lie to the claims that the lots are buildable, and septic systems (yep they will have wells and septics on a swamp) are currently towers of fill that rise 4 feet over the rest of the land, so that they will pass a perc test.
But yep, these lands are not adjacent to a waterway, they are just a bottomland filter for the aquifer that serves hundreds of families, and foster a variety of species. I'm not really sure, with that kind of drainage, that neighbors won't be drinking effluent, but hey! let the bulldozers rip. Let's protect the property rights to build everywhere, anywhere, even if it is just stupid.
But buyer beware; you're gonna want a really good dry basement system, and a PUR filter.
5
We need to hold trials for crimes against humanity.
12
So Trump want to give big oil public land? Corporations win again! He will expect a big oil lobby check.
4
One more year. We can bring back everything Obama did. But we have to vote Blue.
11
Whether you're a big business or small business, you should not be allowed to pollute the waterways nearest you. The waterways belong to all. If you incur extra cost to avoid polluting the water, so be it; otherwise, the cost of polluted water is transferred to people downstream, who might depend on clean water for their livelihoods, and that's not right. Look at the dead zone in the Gulf now, and how that's affecting fishermen and people who depend on beach-going tourists. They are bearing the cost of the polluting farmer or industry upstream.
All this should go without saying, but apparently not with Trump and his regulation-rollback administration.
13
The article states that Zippy Duvall supports this move. I always say that if it's good enough for Zippy, it's good enough for me.
This is a predictable result of Obama having been a weak and egotistical president. The man was barely a junior senator when he ran. He had not taken the time to gain either federal government experience or political capital in DC. So rather than being a president who dealt with the senate by "working the room" to push legislation, he opted for executive orders that he assumed would never be tossed out. I know, I know... Mitch McConnell did everything he could to stop Obama. That thread-bare excuse won't stand up to scrutiny. A seasoned, experienced politician with even a modicum of "juice" would have mopped up the floor with McConnell and his ilk. Instead, for personal therapeutic reasons, Obama had a desperate need to win the approval of old men who loathed him.
Why he was elected - other than "to make Dr.King's dream come true" (thanks Orpah!) - can never be explained. It was sheer ego in thinking he was ready and sheer ego in believing the person he said he'd "passed the baton too" would just slide in to the White House on his legendary charm - and I use legendary in its proper sense: nothing but a legend and not real. Polls showed that any republican would beat Clinton - it just happened to be Trump. So thanks, Obama voters, for being such suckers that you made a person like Trump inevitable.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
3
How convenient for you to be able to completely overlook the fact that, from the moment President Obama was elected, the Republicans in Congress made it their mission to prevent ANY legislation he proposed from passing. After he managed to get the ACA passed, following over a year of attempting to work with Republicans and agreeing to over 160 Republican-initiated changes too the proposed legislation, every single one of to them voted against it. Once they took control of the Congress, there was absolutely nothing the President could do to "work with" them. He was left with no other choice but executive orders to enact the policies he was elected to carry out.
Revisionism may be alive and well in Republican circles, but enough of us can see through the smoke and mirrors and distortions - the lying, corruption and obstruction are coming to an end next November!
18
I want Don-the-Con, ALL of his family (including all children and grandchildren, wife, etc), and his sycophants to drink the water that comes from Flint, Michigan taps. I want them to bathe in it, cook with it, just for starters. I want it bottled and sent on a regular basis.
13
@Rev. E. M. Camarena, PhD
Regardless of your ludicrous rant.Who would think Republicans would elect someone as moronic as Trump.
Say it slowly. Republicans elected Trump. They made him possible.
14
This article is misleading. The Clean Water Act was not repealed. This act, however, did not define which waters were protected causing much confusion and resulting lawsuits. Obama created the Waters of the United States rule of 2015 to define which waters were covered. This was an administrative rule and not a law passed by Congress.
The rule created an enormous amount of controversy and lawsuits and gave the government far reaching powers that many objected to. Trump asked the EPA to repeal the rule and replace it with something more agreeable to all. There is no intention to pollute the waters as many alarmists claim.
81
@JrpSLm
and there is no intention to close our borders
and there is no intention to roll back clean air standards and pollute the air we breathe
and there is no intention to give away our forests to the logging industry
and there is no intention to give away our wilderness resources to the oil industry
and there is no intention to open up our coastlines to drilling
what will it take for you to open your eyes and see what is really going on here. Trump is selling off our future for political and financial gain.
897
@JrpSLm
Of course there's "no intention to pollute the waters" but unintentional pollution caused by sloppy manufacturing and farming practices is just as bad.
433
@JrpSLm
It seems you haven't noticed, whatever this administration attempts to repeal, they NEVER replace it with anything because they have nothing else in mind.
550
Love all the hysterical comments here. Trump is only rolling back Obama era additions to clean water standards which are onerous and illogical - like considering temporary water holes on farms as wetlands. The pre-Obama water standards will remain. Calm down folks and check your hatred of President Trump at the door!
64
@new conservative I disagree. You mention one example and proceed to cite all the new standards as onerous and illogical. I ask you to consider where polluted water comes from. It starts at millions of point sources like those on farms and runoff from parking areas and city streets. Algal blooms continue to get much worse so clearly not enough is being done to protect the water resources you casually dismiss.
581
@new conservative
With the utmost respect, I recommend re-reading the part about the EPA permit restrictions over the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers farmers use which will be lifted.
Lifting those restrictions is reckless and harmful.
Not sure how or why those actions can be viewed as hysterical.
591
@new conservative
Sorry, but by his actions, the current president appears to be approaching everything Obama ever did with a prejudice bordering on hysteria.
Besides, for the record, this is open public discourse about substantive policy, and has nothing to do with personal attacks or hatred.
422
Regulations have been placed upon big businesses because of their willingness to destroy the quality of our drinking water and air because it interferes with their profit margins. And this is Trump once again doing the bidding of his billionaire friends and family over the needs of the American people; the con continues.
10
So, Trump rolls back water protection back to the 1980's. We should praise his prudence and restraint. He could have put them back to 1880. Let the Robber Barons return to remake America great!
5
Well, this is just the first step.
2
To those who make the tired, tired claim that regulations like this are "burdensome". No, regulations like this are to keep the rest of us from being burdened with the result of harmful runoff.
In short, we shouldn't have to pay to pick up your mess.
11
Should we just rename the agency to the Environmental Destruction Agency?
12
@Justin EPA= Equal Polluter Agency
6
I get a kick out of radical capitalists calling themselves conservatives.
Conserve what ? Park lands? fossil fuels ? clean air ?
There is nothing conservative about squandering natural resources for a nickel.
18
As recently as August 26, 2019, President Trump said: "“I want the cleanest water on Earth."
That's lie 12,000 and what?
18
Well folks, we now have our own home-grown Evil Empire out to destroy the planet. Where is the Resistance when we need them?
6
Everybody wonders if Trump has any strategy at all. Of course he does. What Obama did I will undo. Pure and simple. Ever since that fateful White House Press Photographers Dinner, when President Obama referred to him as the Don, the die was cast.
7
From the article:
"...President Trump, who characterized it as federal overreach that impinged on the rights of farmers, rural landowners and real estate developers to use their properties as they see fit."
But the most basic concept of law and justice states that, "The right to swing your fist ends just before the tip of my nose."
Likewise, any property owner can "use their properties as they see fit" - until that use poisons their neighbor's well (or an entire town's water supply).
If this basic principle of human rights (which likely goes back to English Common Law and the Magna Carta) can't be successfully defended in American law - then we as a nation are living in the Middle Ages, legally speaking.
16
As I’ve said repeatedly Trump is trying to destroy this country and is meeting with no effective opposition.
14
My stomach is churning, it is 2019 and now oil, gas, pesticides and chemicals can infiltrate our air and water and land, don’t know when this nightmare of an administration will end, where can I sent money to to fight this?
14
@Juliana James the Democratic National Committee or the Democratic candidate you prefer. Don't vote Green. That is like casting a vote for Trump.
One of our congressmen tried to have a bill passed to protect the environment, but it was watered down.
1
Trump’s administration has ran roughshod over every existing environmental policy he could since taking office. A nuclear accident on the Chesapeake would probably have less effect on the environment than this POTUS’s policies as a whole.
But thanks for the article, I didn’t know we didn’t just have an “acting” administrator of the Equal Polluter Agency until just now....
6
Trump knows what he is doing. Hundreds of thousands of people pleased by his rollback of clean water regulations will vote for him before they realize they are dying from polluted water.
11
Trump and his GOP are a clear and profound affront to American government, democracy, security, values, ideals, the rule of law and to the environment.
8
Third world Trump. Don't drink the water is not my idea of a first world country. Beyond belief.
10
I'm at the point where I'm asking if Trump wants to kill us all because he feels he's old and going to due himself. Sound crazy? So does all the rest of this "policy."
9
Oh Goody! Maybe the Cuyahoga River in Ohio will catch fire again. It burned 13 times between 1868 and 1969, for the last time in 1969. The Clean Water Act was passed in 1972 (over Nixon’s veto), so the river hasn’t burned since. But Trump loves fireworks so maybe we’ll have more pyrotechnics on more rivers. Something to look forward to, huh? Perhaps he can arrange a burning Potomac.
12
Lord why are people not rioting in the streets over this? Trump, Moscow Mitch, John Coryn have absolutely no care for anyone in this country or their states. Let them drink the algae bloom water killing dogs on Red Bud Isle in Austin Tx or what the citizens Martin County in Kentucky are supposed to drink. I won’t even begin to discuss the tainted water in West Virginia, Detroit or Pennsylvania. Honestly, how can any republican or anyone support this kind of backward thinking! Clean water is vital for everyone not just us left leaning, tree hugging liberals. Cancer from Benzene in drinking water doesn’t care about your political persuasion. At this point you folks in red states who love Trump really should be asking yourselves “are you truly better off now with Trump, etc as your president or whomever you have as your congressman”. He’ll eventually be gone and you or your kids grandkids etc. will be suffering the effects of contaminated water via your sink bath fruit vegetables meat long after those men are 6ft under. Everything on this planet requires clean water. EVERYTHING.
10
This is total political propaganda. The legislation was a power grab by Obama giving the EPA almost total authority over all waterways going as far as puddles in a field.
2
@Don You must listen to Don. He can offer the "real" facts. But he's too polite to do that in public.
2
Every puddle... I am sure that is totally a fact, and yours is a very fair and balanced view.
Don't come crying when you or a loved one get cancer.
9
Who benefited from the so-called power grab? That is a popular phrase amongst conservatives commenting, but I’m not sure who benefited monetarily from the Obama era rule change? On the other hand the rollback will certainly benefit those who pollute. You’re delusional to think protecting the environment is a cost free endeavor. Everyone will bear will bear the cost one way or another. It’s time to grow up!
9
May Trump drink from the Flint Michigan water faucets.
14
Besides polluters, who wants this? Maybe Trump can drink the water first, if only to show us how safe it is.
8
Why don't they just openly decommission the EPA, like we're all know they want to, for a decade or so and see how that works out. There is nothing quite like toasting marshmallows and roasting weenies over a burning river.
15
The water is cleaner than ever before, there has never been water more clear than under my administration. I say serve it up to him and his family right from the clean beautiful stream.
11
#45 doesn't care at all about the air we breathe or water we drinks so as long as his rich buddies can make more money because they don't have to take care of the land or environment. The only thing we can hope for is that #45 is only here for short while longer and the person after him has there work cut out undoing all the back words moves his is doing to this country. What can be done by executive order can be undone by executive order. Just hope it has done to much damage.
7
This is far less about spiting Obama than allowing private interests to pollute the environment for profit. We should not be putting any toxins into the air, water or land. There are numerous examples of how this has come back to bite us. Even if it’s possible, remediation is costly and usually accrues to the taxpayer. Short-term profit at the public expense is boiler plate Republican. Vote them out!
16
Now every household will need to purchase a reverse osmosis drinking water system for their home. I bet Trump, Inc. has a large share of that new business!
10
We lived on a farm where the well water was contaminated. We had to buy bottled water for decades. We may have to go back to those days. I went to an environmental college. Rolling back these restrictions will only result in more disease. Do Trump or the Republicans care about their children. I know they don't care about the country. They have proven that over and over again. Glad I don't have children. And I feel so badly for the future of this country. Can Trump be ousted because he doesn't believe in science? He said he is a Christian. He's only in this for himself and his benefactors. Deplorable.
16
@Sharon Conway "He's only in this for himself and his benefactors." Not quite. He also really enjoys the adulation...all that bowing and scraping.
5
A fundamental weakness of our government that despite passing laws with clear intent, the bureaucracy and the lobbyists write the regulations, guidelines, and rules. As they say the devil is n the details, and the public pays little attention to the details, meanwhile the next administration can come into power and rewrite the regulations, and rules with no congressional oversight. In the current administration they have systematically upended our regulatory system turning our laws into shams.
5
The fake populism of the GOP knows no bounds. Keep in mind that when the phony appeals to "...federal overreach that impinged on the rights of farmers, rural landowners..." and the like start being thrown around, what they are actually after is protecting the giant multi-national Big Ag companies and their shareholders. Every aspect of modern farming (with the small exception of actual independent farms) is controlled by these companies and the farmers are just producers who often don't even own the land they farm and where every aspect of production is controlled and quantified by the owning company. It's kind of like using the Marlboro Man to sell cigarettes.
7
Yes and farmers nowadays can’t get a break and they have even less health
Insurance than most.
2
Trump obviously does not care about his grandchildren— or ours as a country. Who cares about those kids and their future? They have no money to swing elections, and can’t vote— now.
8
Nowhere else on Earth does one expect to see "Trump rolls back the wheel". The fact that conservatives happen to believe in poisoning themselves is their problem. Invoking "Obama" as a reason for returning to the Stone Age on whatever subject is their problem.
There is no such thing as water which is too drinkable, no such thing as air which is too breathable. Nobody else has to live by their bottomless standards. That point needs to be made, permanently.
10
Pollute our water, air and when one acquires a toxin-induced malignancy, deny healthcare coverage for lifesaving treatment. Only a “stable genius” and “pro-life” Republicans could devise such a wonderful plan.
13
water water everywhere and not a drop to drink...our grandchildren's lament
7
Donald Trump campaigned on the promise to "drain the swamp". He has simply drained it right into the White House itself. And, he has no intention of leaving the White House in the foreseeable future. "I will only accept the results of the election if I win." RIP democratic rule of law.
5
This is a crazy move! No environmental protections should be taken away; more should be added. We want to preserve the world for our to-be ancestors. Hopefully the Republicans will realize that they will not live forever and that their children and grandchildren bare the brunt of bad environmental policy.
6
The Dirty Water Act of 2019
9
For some reason this made me thing of the brain-eating amoeba; Nagleria Fowleri.
What a horrible way to die.
With that in mind maybe karma would visit such a fate on a particular individual who seems determined to destroy our planet and all life on it.
8
This is so predictable. I wish Obama had issued an order requiring every American to strangle kittens. Then at least Trump would stop us from strangling kittens.
8
Trump and his Republican Party are deliberately poisoning all Americans, our children, grandchildren and other loved ones. The air we breathe and the water we drink.
7
There is a little reported fight happening in the Great Lakes region happening right now. Enbridge, the Company that was responsible for a oil spill in the Kalamazoo river in Michigan among other disasters. Enbridge has a 60 year old pipe line running across the Straits of Mackinaw. The Straits are the dividing line between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. The Great Lakes are the largest source of fresh water in the US. The entire country should be watching and get involved in this.
14
If the public wants to take control of a farmers pothole, we should buy it and compensate him for the full value.
Water quality was improved tremendously by the pre-Obama regulations. This new rule was an infringement on many more people’s private property rights as well as an violation of the tenth amendment. What would do far far more good for further improvement of water quality and other environmental parameters and would infringe on no one’s rights, require hiring not one additional employee, and save billions of dollars are two things: End the sugar program and the ethanol mandate. It would do more to save the Everglades, save the Gulf, save our topsoil, and (reduce CO2 production) than all the 100 billion dollar preservation programs dreamed up put together.
4
@KBronson I’m in favor of your other recommendations, but the protection of ephemeral streams is commonly overlooked. Many people unknowingly pollute dry areas, not anticipating that the damage extends beyond that spot, only to have seasonal flooding pollute the water bodies the Clean Water Act is trying to protect.
5
Isn’t it about time someone changed the name of the Environmental PROTECTION Agency for what it has really become under this sad, shortsighted administration... Maybe the Anti-Obama Agency... Oh, that would be EVERY government agency... At least until sometime after January 2021.
VOTE LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDED ON IT.
21
These carpetbaggers will lower property values in your area and probably put up your insurance premiums. When these environmental polluters leave the sites will look ugly and unusable for anyone, let alone any recreational use.
Someone needs to look at the psychological effect of all this ugly, noisy machinery, on peoples health; and keep statistics of what type of illnesses creep up during their time in the area. That's why you need environmental protections; they also protect human beings health as well. Pollution affects rich and poor people alike and your health is your wealth. Not much good having millions or billions in the bank if you don't live long enough to enjoy it!
4
so the media should have spent last week writing article after article about super detrimental effects these rollbacks are.
i guess people want those algal blooms, that kill dogs in 15 minutes. gulf of mexico? who cares? mississippi beaches closed for entire summer who cares.
fertilized from nebraska, illimois, iowa and many other states flows downstream and the algae bloom (actually its cyano-bacteria) feeds on the fertilizer, big time.
9
Trump must be so proud. What a crowning achievement. He is the Pericles of pollution.
17
Let's remember, it's not just Trump..it's all of GOP (#MoscowMitch) backed by their donors destroying our water, air and land.(after they destroyed 40% of our brothers brains)
Very soon all his supporters will want money to fix their water, land etc.. once Dem president takes over.
7
I so agree. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz love dirty water.
2
Yes. Another “achievement” on the part of a cynical, ruthless, dollar-driven and unwise Commander in Chief and his obsequious cronies. Don’t they drink the water too?
10
....if we can mix it with "Kool-aid."
3
Why are we not rioting in the streets! This is our lives at stake for generations to come. Our precious planet!
11
Great for the bottled water plastic polluting industry.
5
Has anyone checked to see if Trump has an investment in any bottled water companies?
12
Why do we put up with this? Why don't we get rid of him??
8
Any ghoulish policy imaginable, Trump is all for it.
9
This just proves how much he loves and cares about America. And how much he wished he had as much class and intelligence as President, not to mention being more liked.
`
5
Dont’t you just love our country’s leadership choose greed over public health and safety. The only thing worse are the those who “know better” that support the activities of that den of thieves formerly known as the White House.
6
Farmers maybe hsppybut fishermen certainly will suffer. I grew up by the Chesapeake Bay and it took years to bring it back to life. Now in N.C. fish kills are still not uncommon in the rivers and sounds. Will Trump bail out fishermen when the full effects of this asinine move by Trump’s despoiled EPA are felt? I doubt it. Even if he did such a thing the damage to the rest of society remains.
7
I must say that we Canadians are mesmerized by the daily highjinks perpetrated by your government and President.
Almost every possible action to preserve your environment
is being raped. Today it's Water. Can't wait for tomorrow.
I'm not saying this with glee. Most Canadians are incredulous about how it is possible in a great country like America for one man to be allowed to do so much damage and how everyone seems to o be sitting back and letting the carnage continue.
The old story of the end of times, when the Devil triumphs over
God seems to be here along with his de pile preparing the way.
God help you all, our dear neighbours.
18
@Ted Nadel Yes, it does seem you must. You say it every day.
Good.
The stain of the Obama presidency is well on it's way to being completely erased.
Hopefully his library touches on his entire legacy being rightfully reduced to nothing.
@John
One thing is sure: there will be no Trump presidential library. No, tweet archives do not qualify.
7
Hard to believe that rural Americans, who voted for Trump because he "tells it like it is," will approve of this. Everyone needs clean water.
6
Waterways are inter connected and pollution and toxic contamination does not stop when it reaches a property line.
Do members of this administration compete amongst themselves in who can come up with the most horrid policy to implement. It’s hard to see who the winner is so far since this administration is a colossal pile of bad policies.
9
I buy organic . My small contribution to offset these horrendous policies .
2
@Need You Ask?
Yes, I need to ask: Does your buying organic help those who cannot afford to?
1
Actually, organic doesn’t translate to the water used to grow our food or feed our animals. We all get “it” whether it be red algae, benzene, PFAS if water is contaminated.
3
@kenneth
No. But the non use of pesticides doesn’t contribute to the contamination of drinking water .
Better than not doing anything.
3
I live in a fairly moderate state that welcomes regulation. I feel confident in my state providing, or trying to provide, clean air and water.
If others want to live in a commode, let them. Just make sure we are honest about the nonsense being poured into rivers, streams and the land. No misdirection or confusion. Tell the people of West Virginia that they are drinking water with traces of heavy duty cleaners used on coal equipment.
20 years from now we will hear about “certain” states with higher rates of cancer, childhood and birth illnesses and premature death.
Some can only learn the hard way.
10
@Practical Thoughts Are you suggesting that all of us move to your "fairly moderate state?" I can't really believe you'd like that.
But maybe, if our own lives here were safer . . . .
1
The tariffs are killing farmers. Trump would rather obliterate environmental protections than lift tariffs. He'll do anything for a vote.
7
I absolutely now believe we need to force feed trump sewer water, and tell his it’s fresh bottled water! How can he be so casual when it comes to the US waterways? He definitely is mentally unstable, if he continues on this path! I always knew he wanted to kill us, but now he’s doing it on a faster pace! He’s the reason why even recycling has been cut back! We need less garbage in our waterways, and he’s the one throwing it all back in! I’m wondering if he’s actually testing the democrats to see how much they can take before they follow through with impeachment.
6
@LI Res Emperors do not test.
They may gloat. They may punish. But they do not bother to test.
3
And given that many many of the lower courts are stacked, it stands to reason that if there is a "misunderstanding" about the laws by industry, then the infraction will more than likely be excused due to the chaotic nature of the legal jargon. This administration is so dastardly calculating that all the nasty little pieces are starting to interlock into one big ugly picture.
6
The GOP would have you believe these rules they’re doing away with are “regulations” that are impinging on their manhood, as the farm lobbyist seems to imply. In fact, they are protections, protecting us from toxins in our water, protecting us from cancer, protecting the land and the water and all the species that inhabit them and sustain this planet. With their actions the GOP’s lack of care and lack of morals are plain for all to see.
8
@Thanna Oh, you should have heard them back in the day, when water fluoridation was a Communist plot .
3
This is what all of those Trump supporting suburban mom voted for?
Trump continues to erode his support
5
@Martin Erode his support? Nonsense. There are just as many fools on his side as there ever were. And when things get really really bad...well, they'll blame Hillary.
5
One pro-environment, pro-agriculture way to reduce chemical use, erosion, and run-off is to ease requirements for biotech (i.e. GMO) seed approvals. These miraculous seed varieties have resulted in hundreds of millions of pounds of insecticide NOT being applied and millions of acres of land NOT being plowed. I recently visited one farmer in eastern Maryland who had not plowed his land in 18 years due to his use of these crops. Farmers don't spray chemicals (whether organic or inorganic) or plow because it's fun. Moreover, their livelihood depends upon sustainability. Continuing to fun genetic research and making access to the best crop genetics easier - obviously with prudent testing - is the best way to maintain food security while also reducing agriculture's environmental footprint.
2
Well, as long as farmers don't mind somebody pouring runoff from their farm in their own wells, then I agree: it's a private property issue...if they do, however, then it's clearly a case of what makes them money is more important than OTHER property owner's rights.
4
@Melquiades They're not drinking from those wells. Those wells are for the hired hands and "other" animals.
3
I think the Democratic party needs to smarten up, and start communicating to Trump's supporters, in a manner and location in which they are apt to hear the message, exactly what is wrong with this guy. By manner, I mean video and pictures, and by location, I mean commercials in highly Trump positive broadcasts like NASCAR shows. Example video: Split screen with Trump talking on one side, and the audience on the other side, laughing. Show examples of people all over the world laughing at Trump's shenanigans. Another example, show Trump on one side denigrating the EPA and on the other show before and after pictures, and quotes of GOP members in the seventies advocating for the environment. We need to stop preaching to the choir and get real about what Trumpers and people on the fence need to hear and see to be pulled out of their shared delusion.
16
Or maybe in all the chemo waiting rooms in West Virginia and Kentucky and Oklahoma.
2
My family grew up on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. It is.a treasure to my children and grandchildren. To us it's like heaven on Earth, and now we worry that doing what we have always done, swimming, fishing, boating and camping is going to be something that could be toxic. Children need a place where they can be free to roam and connect with the Earth, by doing so they learn respect for nature and so many other things. We have to make our voices heard. The best way to do that is in your own back yard. Take action at the local level and vote everyone out who doesn't think clean water is more important than profit. Greed, the root of all evil
16
What's with this clown in the Oval Office? Whenever there's a chance to act in a gracious, generous, unifying, far-sighted way that represents America's highest principles, he chooses exactly the opposite tack, whether it involves migrants fleeing daily threats to their lives, air and water that's safe for Americans to breathe and drink, our democratic form of government and its institutions, or the very survival of life on a planet threatened by climate change.
Petty, cruel, ignorant, dishonest, self-serving and corrupt are just a few of the words that define this presidency.
The man is an affront to the most cherished values we aspire to as human beings. Speaking in religious terms, he is nothing short of an abomination.
26
@ag People keep calling him a clown. What is there about him that's funny?
2
Each month, another Obama rollback. Everyone knows 45 isn't smart enough to know what to do here, so who is running these plays?
16
It is high-time to carefully vote and get rid of this guy in the white house along with his republican cronies in the senate in November 2020 to save the USA from further endangerment.
15
The river that supplies Washington D.C. has its headwaters in coal country.
https://www.americanrivers.org/river/potomac-river/
What planet do these people expect their children to live on when this one is trashed beyond repair?
18
I truly don't think they care.
6
@Suanne Dittmeier Yes. Or, at least, they're doing their best not to think about that.
2
I bet Nestle is happy. By now they own the earth's biggest aquifers.
4
Talk to any trump cult followers - especially those of a certain age - they will say a version of this: it's okay if "eventually" there is a negative outcome - they won't be around then, anyway. They say the same thing about fighting climate change.
8
The Democratic president in 2021 sure has a lot of work to put things back in place that ha been protecting us for the eight years prior to Trump.
12
"Trump Administration Rolls Back Clean Water Protections"
Trump is delivering on his promise to do away with Regulations. The problem is with this one he is letting our water resources become sewers, again.
I can not believe Americans want to face the day, soon to arrive, when we will be faced with the threat of the water coming out of our faucets being poisoned with many different industrial chemicals. But this is just what Trump is delivering to all of us.
10
We would appreciate if you Americans would create an apolitical reference website that accurately depicts the direct beneficiaries. The Companies, elected or appointed politicians and direct families enjoying the financial rewards. On the same website you can list the people affected. Americans you can do this!
9
Unbelievable! And when big business has made their money and moved out of the area who will be left holding the baby and having to clean up the mess big business has made? The local taxpayers and ratepayers who are not rich. Puts a new meaning on carpetbaggers.
Check out the facebook page of 'Donald J Trump' where there's a video of a plane flying a banner in blue and white with the words, 'socialism will hurt the economy'. Vote Trump or similar. Big business who can kill the environment and all the local wildlife with chemicals are just receiving corporate welfare to increase the greedy guts profits. these people DO NOT want to make America great again.
You just have to look at why China is now taking on a clean green environmental policy to see the damage done to their environment and drinking water.
Chemicals don't stay where you dump them; they travel down stream and into other locations. Chemicals also seep into groundwater systems.
11
This is nothing new. Democrats' define "liberty" as freedom from exploitation. Republicans' define "liberty" as the freedom to exploit others. It has always been so; Trump is just more blatant about the exploitation.
19
No surprise here. He has been making the swamp larger, deeper, and more noxious since the day he took office.
12
With all the new logging, oil & gas drilling, mining in now unprotected lands there will be more pollution in both air & water. Next year trump won't be able to boast about the US having the cleanest air & water. Leaking & dumping of chemicals & other materials into lakes, streams, & rivers will mean less clean water in the water table. When drilling starts back up off - shore, the more chances of oil leaks & pollution in the oceans. Oh yeah, trump wants America great again but poor, sick, & dead. He will do away with insurance so people have less access to healthcare to survive the pollution diseases. He will move his kids & grandkids into trump tower where they will live isolated from dirty air & water. Even the snow jared & ivanka ski every year will be black & dirty & unsafe to get against bare skin. Maybe they can install a snow maker in the trump tower so they can have clean snow.
All because he is more profitable after not divesting assets & because he is not as popular as former President Obama.
How much money is being paid to EPA, Interior, & trump?
8
This is a teachable moment for America: How is it possible that one person. Even the president — can singlehandedly overturn a regulation intended to protect citizens from contaminated water? If it’s so easy that Trump can destroy a pivotal piece of environmental regulation with a signature, then our system of government is horrendously flawed. We need to rewrite the Constitution or at least have a more powerful system of checks and balances. Trump feels he can choke us with filthy air, force us to drink toxic water, and live on land oozing with chemicals, and he’s getting away with it. It’s a scorched earth policy aimed at destroying the country. If we let it happen, then we deserve everything we get.
12
Hopefully the debates tonight will bring this up and pose solutions to this evil empire.
We need a Superman or woman now!
3
Well thank goodness, water was getting way too clean.
9
This is precisely why it's important to vote. When you passively sit back and complain, but don't even do the simplest thing that is your Civic duty and vote. We need to vote them all out. Taking back the Senate is just as important as voting Trump out. No more agonizing over the fact that you may not agree with everything the Democratic candidates are putting forward. They are all going to be better than Trump.
11
Why would anyone think going backwards on the environment is a good idea? Let's all relax here and accept additional pollutants in our air and water - yeah and quit complaining. Who wants to be the next Flint?
After all who are you going to believe, Trump or 10,000 climate scientists? Do we want a political decision or a science based decision? Its that simple.
19
Water is not "private property." As with the air, and the clouds. Just as a matter of strict scientific fact.
The same pollution-enabling agricultural policies that increase short-term profits for farmers (and the petrochemical industries that supply them with fertilizers and pesticides) have devastated much of the fishing, crabbing, and oyster industry. But the industry that harvests food from bays and shorelines doesn't have a lobby backed by Big Oil. And petrochemical-addicted farmers do- even though in the long run, heedless petro-industrial ag kills the natural nutrients of their own farmland soil.
So the dead zones continue to expand in food resource troves like the Gulf of Mexico and Chesapeake Bay (yes, the world's largest bay also has a dead zone), fed by the massive amount of chemical fertilizers and the huge manure lagoons that outflow into every drainage ditch and culvert that feeds into the rivers.
21
Water is not "private property." As with the air, and the clouds. Just as a matter of strict scientific fact.
The same pollution-enabling agricultural policies that increase short-term profits for farmers (and the petrochemical industries that supply them with fertilizers and pesticides) have devastated much of the fishing, crabbing, and oyster industry. But the industry that harvests food from bays and shorelines doesn't have a lobby backed by Big Oil. And petrochemical-addicted farmers do- even though in the long run, heedless petro-industrial ag kills the natural nutrients of their own farmland soil.
So the dead zones continue to expand in food resource troves like the Gulf of Mexico and Chesapeake Bay (yes, the world's largest bay also has a dead zone), fed by the massive amount of chemical fertilizers and the huge manure lagoons that outflow into every drainage ditch and culvert that feeds into the rivers.
2
There's no defense for the hatred that Trump, the GOP, and Trump supporters show for innocent animals, ecosystems, and the web of life that provides us our own lives, along with the beauty and majesty of this living planet.
Trump & Bolsonaro are currently committing the most pervasively egregious crime, ecocide.
Their wanton, reckless war on Nature and on all of us who breathe, drink water, and seek a quality life shows them to be
craven destroyers of life itself.
How can anyone who claims to be pro-life and pro-family support a greedy grifter whose actions increase the poisoning of their country and loved ones?
26
Make America Backward Again. This administration challenges science and facts. What did you expect their clean water policies to be?
12
Why does President Trump feel free to poison us all, our children, grandchildren, every American he has sworn to protect and defend via our U.S. Constitution?
10
This move is motivated not only by Trump's rage at and jealousy of President Obama, it's also motivated by easing restrictions on water polluting industries who have contributed to his crooked election. This is an example of blatant quid-pro-quo corruption at the highest levels of our government. Meanwhile, with his puppet Barr at Justice, Trump has initiated a show trial of Andrew McCabe, as punishment for McCabe's investigation in Trump's criminal activities. Where will this end? Will it ever end, or are we headed for a 21 century form of crypto-fascist American government, headed, probably for life, by the most corrupt president the America's history?
15
“When you take private property rights from a man who’s worked all his life,” Mr. Duvall said, “that is very intrusive to him and it’s something he just can’t stand for.”
OK so it's a, "No," for you on KXL in Nebraska and for taking land to build a border wall. Got it.
13
Their phony ban on vaping is just a smokescreen while the pollute our air, our water, and destroy our planet to make a buck.
19
Hope Trump is planning to pump a lot of money into health care to deal with all the people he’ll make sick. Or maybe his goal is to kill off as many poor people as possible. How can Republican voters support a guy who wants to take away something as basic as clean water?
13
Dont worry be happy. We are going to pollute and shoot our way to a new world. The idea of Clean water is only for those who think this world is going to continue.
6
Well, when Trump leaves office either vertical or horizontal the new president will change it back.
All the advisors have to tell Trump is, it's "Obama" and he immediately jumps wanting to destroy it without knowing what it is. "It's a disaster!"
9
Is he crazy thats outragous what is he thinking ,better to be safe than people die from poisoning maybe thats what he wants. this makes no sense
4
In 2016 election, Donald Trump unexpectedly won Michigan by a narrow margin of 0.23%, with 47.50% of the total votes over the 47.27% of Hillary Clinton. This is the narrowest margin of victory in Michigan's presidential election history.
With these proposed roll backs, good luck to Republicans carrying the state again in 2020 in places like Flint!
11
„Thanks, I think that was past due!“
*small print: wonder if there is a single person in the US who thinks like that, even in the chemical industry. They adapted to the necessary regulations years ago - if they are run by sane people they will not through away the technology they applied. Or will they?
1
I’m a current cancer victim. I say to my doctors, why do I have cancer, I do not smoke, drink alcohol, eat a healthy diet, exercise and have no family history of cancer. My doctors say, “there are many reasons why you have cancer, but most likely because of the pollution of our air, water and soil you have cancer”.
Trump administration may seem chaotic, but in reality they have a plan and focus of taking away our rights as American citizens to have an unpolluted environment.
One day we will wake up and realize we did not fight and protest against this administrations disregard for the American people. It will be too late, we and the planet earth will all have cancer.
8
I am in the same boat. Cancer out of the blue with no known genetic component and a lifestyle with strong protective factors against cancer, including diet and exercise. I chalk it up to living in a heavy agriculture area with many CAFOs. Corporate "farmers" do not care about human or environmental health. I am hoping to move as soon as my health allows, though there are very few places left untouched by the careless polluting actions of humans.
2
I think that the Republicans should have to drink the water from the waters edges. They can be the filter to determine if the water is safe to drink. I am amazed how Republicans don't understand what the coal waste, farm fertilizer waste, etc will do to families throughout our country. I lived in the foothills above Fresno, CA, small town called Oakhurst. their water was so bad we had to buy bottled water for 14 years, until we left for TX last year. And, we have to have filtered water to drink what is here. But, even with filters there's some water I still wouldn't drink. Republicans, these are your children, and grandchildren, you are poisoning. But, you can have the first swig.
11
Oh, good. I was afraid my kids weren’t getting their minimum daily requirement of arsenic and mercury.
7
We use Gatorade to hydrate our crops, because you know, it has electrolytes.
4
It's what plants crave!
2
Obama’s standards were based on science. Trump - and Republican standards, for they are one and the same, are based on whoever donates the most money.
10
This week Trump announced a ban on flavoured vaping tobaccos, following the deaths of several young people. Thousands of citizens have died and hundreds of thousands more have suffered significant health effects through drinking contaminated drinking water. This president seems to prioritise attacking anything that Obama put in place, regardless of the health effects on the population. In this sense Trump is like a lunatic blind Sampson, who in his quest for revenge destroys the pillars of the building with no thought to those harmed by his actions.
6
Terrible. On all areas having to do with saving the planet, Trump seems to be against them. I suspect he is planning to move to the moon in 2021 (or 2025 depending on how the election goes).
3
Hundreds of thousands of homes flooded just this year along the Mississippi and in the midwest because we have removed the wetlands that used to exist which hold, store, and clean water after major rain events. The US has lost over 50% of it's wetlands, and we thought that wouldn't have an impact?
And now we can pollute the ones that remain because large agribusiness can't be bothered to get a permit first. Great.
14
My father, the head of the chemical division of a big oil company, told me his company wantonly dumped harmful chemicals into the soil or disposal pools in poorly regulated southern/poor states. The premise of the Board was they would deal with it if they ever got caught. My father was disturbed because families lived around these “ spills” and kids swam in these “ pools.”
Many died early deaths. Entirely preventable.
Those states benefited from all the rules and regulations of the Clean WaterAct including those of the Obama era.
And those states have the most to lose as those rules and regulations are eroded. Their governments do not watch out for their best interests but those of corporations.
And so it goes. Those that vote against their best interests...sad.
21
@It's About Time So, okay, many adults died and many children had a lifetime of illness.
On the other hand, some corporate heads made millions, went to church occasionally, and had children who thrived.
What's wrong with that? You a communist or something?
4
I think that you can never fake
a thing as lovely as a lake.
But with the rules now in retreat,
that lake will look just like mincemeat.
And streams that I have loved to fish
will now force me to holler "Ish!"
The mighty ocean waves I cherish
now with toxins will be garish.
Farewell to sweet flag and the loon --
I might as well swim on the moon . . .
13
You poison our water, but how dare you vape e-cigarettes!
11
Such a nice president.
5
We form governments to perform functions that can't be done by individuals. Building roads and bridges and railroads are some obvious examples. The armed forces, police and fire protection are things that only our government can provide. Protecting our food supply, our air and our water are other functions that only the government can provide.
We need to protect the commons. Elections have consequences. It's time to get out and work for candidates that will protect the commons.
11
What about chemical fracking fluid run-off into local streams and ultimately contaminating wells and ground water in rural areas? Sounds like changing the rule would allow this to go on without federal intervention if local streams do not fit the definition of a federal waterway. Good luck to those rural folks who still believe the orange menace has their backs. Corporations and factory farms can take care of themselves. What about the rest of us when sources of bottled water dry up or are too contaminated to be used?
11
Everyone needs to speak to Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, South Carolina and Florida. Those are the only states that matter in this next election. The rest of us do not matter. We've already seen that the popular vote hasn't counted in two elections in recent history. All Americans need to take responsibility in the way they vote.
18
@Concerned for the Future
Michigan should go blue in 2020 unless Republican hanky panky interferes in the results. Michigan Republicans do not want democracy.
3
Common sense and 'doing the right thing' takes a back seat to money. Trump is a businessman first, a president second. I am sure someone has paid certain people a lot of money to repeal water protection; the same way people pay a lot of money to stave off gun laws.
The bigger issue is that we are all very good at deluding ourselves into thinking certain problems don't exist, or that the facts are debatable. We don't need to worry about the environment if there is no climate change, right?
8
@Nick
Trump is not now, nor has he ever been, a businessman. He's nothing but a corrupt grifter who's been living off of his daddy's money his entire life. He's no more a businessman than any other useless, unproductive trust fund baby.
6
Strange that vaping is banned because “the first lady’s son” (no relation to Donald Trump?) will be endangered by its lung polluting effects, while, under the Trump EPA’s perverse deregulation, industrial and agricultural pollution of waterways will poison the entire population.
24
That young mans problems are genetic.
3
Trump environmental policy...if you can’t see it, don’t breathe it. If you can’t see through go it, go ahead and drink it.
7
Polluted water.
Isn't that what every American secretly wants?
Maybe this kind of policy might make some people irate?
Now, if a Democrat can calmly and clearly explain to the average American how this type of decision and numerous others by the Trump administration is affecting their lives and their families, maybe we can rid ourselves of the scourge.
Someone who can get the point across without:
Joe Biden's rocks in the mouth;
Elizabeth Warren's breathless delivery;
Beto's non stop gesticulating;
Mayor Pete's too-long sentences;
Bernie's "Get off my lawn" vibe.
Someone who can explain and sound like a normal person.
Like Cory Booker or Amy Klobuchar.
The infamous segregationist Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, repented years later when facing his mortality.
He actually met with civil rights activist icon Jesse Jackson when he was seeking the 1984 Democratic nomination.
Wallace gave Jackson this simple advice:
"Keep the grass low where the goats can get to it."
In other words, for today's situation, let people know how Donald Trump is trying to destroy the health and well being of Americans so that his rich friends can get even more rich.
And, how they'll repay him with campaign cash.
In simple, clear, "low grass" low drama sentences.
8
@ Paul King
Senator Klobuchar supporter here. I like her Midwestern values and good sense. She’s done well for Minnesota, and she would do well for the country.
If farmers and rural landowners had the decency to keep the toxic chemicals on their land in their water most folks would be ok with the roll back. But farmers flush their toxic waste into other folks yards and water. That is what victory is for farmers.
And as we all know farmland demographics are skewed to white men over 55...same group Trump is now sending ‘farmer welfare checks’ to.
Nothing has changed since the 1700’s.
6
Just cuz this illegitimate dude does something incredibly stupid does NOT mean that our highly responsible, environmentally-astute, PR-concerned, parent/grandparent corporate citizens need to run out and ACT on what is now "allowed". In fact, they CAN actually continue on (or start to embark upon) a path of better stewardship and leave their progeny some hope of having a viable planet to live on...for their progeny.
4
Water crisis in Flint and Newark. Does the Trump Administration care about these cities which are predominately Afro-American. The message coming from the Trump Administration is basically forget what science tells us, in fact, forget anything that takes away from Trump's obsession with the accomplishments of ,Barack Obama who wanted a safer, cleaner. more nutritiously sound America. Instead we get an America which is not great and very prone to illness, not to mention a weaker, less admired America.
7
Funny how Trump wishes to take a hardline stand on vaping and its effects on lungs, when he does not care to protect Americans from bullets, polluted air and water, effects of mining, yard and pesticide pollutants, and on and on. Perhaps Melania is worried about Baron vaping?
8
Where does the Republican Party come up with these actions of hatred toward increasing pollution of the air and the water of our land. How can people vote for a party whose goals are to benefit only the wealthy, and the businesses that are involved in pollution? Well, these actions by Trump are true to his spirit, just continue dumping, yes dumping more pollutants into the waterways of our land. I'm more amazing that Republicans in the House and in the Senator sit back and allow this, sit back and not say one single word. They are as bad as Trump. Actually they are worse, because they can stop these type of actions by Trump, yet they do nothing. Pitiful.
15
I must wonder how long it will be before Trump tries to change the Constitution to suit his interests....."that old thing does not have my name anywhere in it. From now on it will be named the Trump Constitution and the First Amendment will now forever be Required Eternal Loyalty To Dear Leader Trump".
2
When is the next shipment of water arriving on Earth? Oh, that's right, there isn't any more.
11
While billionaires can splurge on a $60,000 bottle of Acqua di Cristallo Tributo a Modigliani, the rest of us poor slobs like to enjoy clean tap water, which is, surprisingly to some, a human right. Or is this some fresh Russian effort to further destabilize our country and our democracy?
9
Can we stop saying “Obama era” “Obama rules” “Obamacare” and the like? It just triggers the current occupant.
10
Trump/Pence 2020 Campaign slogan: "Renewed freedom to inhale and drink the poisons! Our children, too!"
4
I'm sorry. Isn't Newark, New Jersey dealing with a lead in the water crisis at the moment?
Perhaps this is not related but clean water seems to be problem in the USA. I read the EPA has failed New Jersey. Now Trump does this! Why? Does Trump and company want to weaken their own citizens? Are they that lacking in foresight and intelligence?
Aren't leaders supposed to care and protect their people?
Lead poisoning and unclean water are two pretty massive safety issues.
4
@KLA "Aren't leaders supposed to care and protect their people? " Yes, THEIR people. Exactly.
1
Photographers need to go out across the country and show us these threatened rivers. Writers need to identify where these water sources are located and describe how communities are impacted and trace where the damage starts. It worked in the '70's.
3
It is painfully obvious to me the building out of the banks of our waterways including lakes, streams, rivers and ocean front has severely negatively impacted our environment. Come on people we have Algae Blooms that are toxic in lakes that you could drink out of 20 years ago now at times you can't swim in them. The exact way to balance the impact on farmers by imposing restrictions is an important piece of this puzzle. But for the rocket scientist who claim we are over reacting due to a biased based on Trump factor.... Hey as we say again to the rocket scientists who do not see the damage to our waters is hey buddy that dog just don't hunt.
3
There is nothing more critical to public health than clean water.
6
All I want to know is why the American people are letting Donald Trump walk all over them and destroy everything they hold dear. They talk about Moscow Mitch McConnell and the GOP-controlled Senate bowing down to Trump and giving in. What's the difference?
5
Because there are many people here who will always vote against their self interest out of ignorance, hate and fear, and the powers that be prefer it that way.
5
@Melinda But I think Wally asked WHY.
@Wally Wolf "Why" is because for 25 years or more, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and others have been tailoring a message to right-wing, rural conservatives that the people they should hate are Democrats (a group that includes most people of color, by the way), and the best way to hurt them is to oppose all the things that make America clean and safe. Those right-wing agents, with the help of others outside America, ginned up anough false outrage to get Trump elected in 2016, and to keep the Senate. There's nothing that the American people can do about this until 2020, short of a revolution.
2
This is an insult to any human being with a minimum of mental sanity and common sense. Preserving one of the most important thing on Earth should be an obligation, not a political choice.
The day this president is ousted from his office a national holiday should be immediately established and highlighted in the calendar.
8
trump supporters and administrators, please spare us your argument that these are minor regulations that imposed an undue burden on farmers or denied individuals the rightful use of their land. The Washington Post has just reported that trump has scaled back “ federal protection of water bodies to 1986 standards”—a giant, disgraceful step backward. Regulations become necessary in the first place because far too many people do not care how their business practices negatively impact others’ quality of life.
7
How about a story documenting the rampant violence in Chicago that has an equally shocking outcome on innocent civilians? Are these not also important issues if we can't blame Trump or Republicans?
and don't forget her e-mails!
7
A couple of years ago one of Trump’s sons bought a commerical property that was found to be contaminated, where the Trump’s got stuck with the clean up. That’s, where this was from.
3
Those who support the Trump decision might want to identify the bodies of water that they believe should be allowed to become less clean so that those using that water or living near that water might be warned in advance and be able to express their personal appreciation for the lowered standards or might be able to express their personal objections if they might happen to have any. In any case, the basic issue seems to be whether or not our environment is protected too well from those who could profit by polluting it.
5
I grew up in an Era of fast industrial growth. A plastic production facility was immorally dumping by-product all over our rural county. I say immorally because the EPA hadn't been formed yet so there really wasn't a lot that could be done to stop the poison that we were drinking and inhaling except close the windows and stay in the house. I now live in the general area of three nuclear power plants, one is upstream from my home on the Kankakee River. They are terrible 'neighbors' as they discharge the tritium laced cooling tower waters directly into the river with hardly a mention to the public. Employees have a non-disclosure agreement but sometimes it leaks out. Why in God's name do we want to go back down that road when it was such a struggle to get protections passed in the first place? My favorite saying is "you can't count your money when you are dead". Rich folk who profit from this behavior have children too.
11
People, Please do not vilify Trump for these legislative measures. I mean, the man probably has issues remembering what he ate for breakfast.
Somewhere, somehow, there is money to be made or money to be lost via these rule changes. The changes have come from lobbyists pushing their agenda.
Trump is so far out of the loop, blaming him is a cop-out.
Rather than attacking Trump, the emphasis for successful change must be targeted at a lower level
2
He’s President.
He’s responsible. Morally, I mean, not intellectually.
5
I believe Harry Truman had a sign on his desk that said, “The buck stops here”.
9
@GP: I get what you are saying, GP. Like many people, I abhor Trump's policy actions and misbehavior; what I am more concerned about is the fact that so many decent Americans truly support him and his administration’s policies. We can elect Trump out of office (hopefully), but the real problem is that many of my neighbors do not have an accurate and respectable concern for environmental protection, anti-pollution policy, and human-based global climate change. With their continual support and votes for conservative environmental policies, our planet is going to run out of time before they know it.
1
for all you environment haters out there, this is not about what someone can DO with their land, it's about the CONSEQUENCES of WHAT they do with their land. many of the chemicals in use today are now called "forever" chemicals because, as the name implies, they remain in the environment forever, once they are out there, there is no getting them back. try considering RESPONSIBLE land use before we all suffer needlessly, forever.
16
Where can I donate to a legal fund for whichever groups or organizations plan to file the legal challenges?
13
That last paragraph,
“This will be very unpredictable,” Mr. Holman said. “They are imposing a chaotic case-by-case program to replace clear, bright-line rules.”
and the ruling party's inclination toward graft explains so much of what is going on. Combined, the enforcement of the rules will not be unpredictable, but instead be very predictable. Leniency will be linked to partisan generosity.
Sorry to say, the need to opliterate anything with Obama's name on it explains the rest.
6
Great!
I grew up in Cleveland in the 1960s and 1970s when the Cuyahoga River regularly caught fire.
Can't wait to bring back the good old days!
26
Every day it’s yet another obscenity from this wretched group of grifters. Please, please vote them out next year.
34
Why on earth does he do these things?
23
And why would any fool want to roll back clean water regulations?
Oh I forgot - it’s conman trump and his bought and paid for buddies. They’re no fools, they’re laughing all the way to the bank.
11
Farmers McConnell, Nunez and Perdue and others are very happy to get this extra bonus in addition to the over $30 billion from the tariff payback. Big pesticide companies including Koch are celebrating. “Burdensome regulations” have cut into their profits. Why care who lives downstream if you don’t get caught?
12
So.... the world wonders why Trump wants to buy Greenland. If you have the power to roll back all the protections for the water we all need to survive and allow contamination of our water supplies what are you to drink? All that fresh water ice melt that is draining into the Atlantic Ocean by the minute is a prime source to fleece the public for fresh water!
5
I read several comments about how this is just another attempt by Trump to destroy the legacy of President Obama. I do not know if this is correct, but of course nothing Trump does can ever destroy what President Obama did. The very way in which Trump speaks, treats others, "works" and simply exists during his administration is a constant reminder to everyone of how unfit he is to occupy the position that his electoral college "victory" gave him. Every time Trump opens his mouth we are reminded of when we actually had a capable, decent President who knew what he was doing. Every new attempt to redo what was masterfully done before by someone so much better than him just diminishes Trump more.
26
I’d add that Trump can’t completely undo Obama’s achievements. Think of waves breaking and falling back, braking and falling back, as the tide rolls in.
6
It was one thing when our waters and lands were poisoned by early industries because we (as a society and scientific community) did not fully comprehend the damage we were doing but today's willful destruction of our lands and waters and ultimately ourselves is beyond reprehensible. These abhorrent polluting policies and practices are pre-meditated violence against humanity. We know the repercussions of these policies and actually have the knowledge calculate the human carnage that will result. Morally repugnant is too kind a characterization for what this is.
16
There is a lot of confusion about this rule. I work in the environmental field and read the proposed rule. Instead of providing more clarity as to which waters are jurisdictional and which are not, the new rule just muddied the waters (pun intended) because the concept of a "significant nexus" between an ephemeral body of water and a regulated body of water is difficult to establish (the SCOTUS Stevens interpretation). The Trump rollback embraces the Scalia interpretation, which requires a direct connection between a tributary and a navigable "water of the United States". The WOTUS rule was an administrative change intended to provide clarity to determining which waters are jurisdictional and which are not.
1
Really did not clarify
1
Such a misleading article, followed predictably by the "sky is falling" outraged commentary. All that happened today is that the Obama Administration's definition of "waters of the US" that are protected by federal permitting requirements has been replaced ... by the previous definition that was promulgated in 1986 (and revised in 1988) -- i.e., the definition that was in place during all eight years of the Clinton Administration. It is not as though heavy regulation is now being replaced by no regulation. Sorry to insert some facts into the discussion.
4
In other words cheer up folks, we’re only going back to when gas had lead in it.
25
So we’re only going back 35 years. Now if we could only do that magic with the climate. I don’t see any repeal and replace going on here; just repeal and wreak. Destruction.
4
The fact is Donald Trump and his cronies are using our country to enrich themselves regardless of how damaging that is to our air, water, and beautiful natural world.
Insert that fact anyway you like.
8
I hope all the republicans and trump who pushed for this will see the day when there is no clean drinking water. The world is running out of clean water...Shame!
8
The GOP is the party of dirty water and polluted air.
14
Because nothing says Make America Great Again like dirty water, polluted air and extinct species. And it’s over reach to have environmental regulations but not overreach to legislate on what women can do with what’s inside their own bodies. Hypocrites.
26
Any NC citizen who votes for Trump is totally inept. Number 1 problem right along side of homicides in our state - water pollution! Can’t swim, can’t drink our water. What does the candidate do who you voted for? He makes sure there will be no drinkable, usable water anywhere in this country. What in the world is he thinking. Please explain this sanity? Who does it benefit? Big corporations? Yes! You and me? Not at all. Insanity thy name is Trump!
11
Typical Trump self dealing on behalf of his special interests at the expenses of us the American people. Here in California, so many of our farm water basins are already irreparably contaminated. Trump is a real danger to America!
5
Seems everything Republicans touch turns poisonous. Trump leads the pack. Where is the clean air and water promised? The hatred of Obama is taking Mr trump over the edge in desperate measures and killing our future.
10
I suppose one can always develop a taste for lead and perhaps incorporate it into our recipes. Yellow can become the desired color and heavy texture of water sought by all the very best restaurants to serve the one percent.
5
At least the rain forests aren't burning at an alarming rate. Oh wait, they are. Never mind. Is it just me or should we be more concerned about having clean water and air?
7
This is horrible. Who in their right mind could possibly want to pollute our water. Who indeed. My hope is that this will teach the next President that laws need to be passed by Congress. I understand that McConnell made this unworkable for the past administration, but in the future there might be Senators who believe in democracy.
10
This is not surprising considering the federal government just overruled NY's DEC to shove the Constitution pipeline right through Central NY. Please tell someone in DC that those are the headwaters of the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay.
4
The earth will remember the relentless assaults and violations.
9
The States have to take control and protect their own water.
2
@operacoach
Water has no borders. It is the responsibility of the Federal Government.
8
@Bob Bascelli. the Federal Government is being completely irresponsible. We have to take care of where we live, at least.
1
@operacoach - 'States have to take control and protect their own water.'
But when the water reaches your state downstream from other states whether the Mississippi, the Colorado, or the Connecticut or the Chattahoochee/Apalachicola rivers?
Unfortunately there is no boarder guard when it comes to water to insure that those upstream in another state don't pollute the water I get.
2
The most valuable resource in the world is clean fresh water. The president is charged with protecting our environment and he needs to be removed as a pollutant.
12
No giant asteroid is going crash into Earth and put an end to life on this planet. We're going to do that ourselves via the leadership of Donald Trump.
14
It is clear that the current occupant of the WH is bent on reversing everything Obama accomplished simply for the sake of undoing it. Provided the occupant will respect the results of an election in which he loses, it will be great to see him gone and the nation's path to environmental and economic health restored.
6
It’s not just that manufacturing and farmers see less regulation, it’s the commodification of water. It’s the resource endgame of the world.
Water filtration companies will privatize the water supply. Water is becoming big money.
6
Anyone interested in learning about potential impacts of water contamination, when deregulation and agricultural wastewater runoff create a perfect storm, should look up Walkerton, Ontario.
Because of it’s small, local scale it’s an easily understood cautionary tale about the need for more, not less oversight.
Relying on responsible stewardship by individuals is a nice concept, but that horse left the barn a long time ago.
10
My hope is Day One of the Democratic administration that succeeds Trump they hold a marathon Executive Order signing session to undo everything they can with the new President’s signature. We can make it a national holiday: Correction Day. Then we can get to work on the hard stuff.
19
Where does his hatred of the Earth we live on, the one and only home for all of humanity come from? I am afraid it comes from his bruised ego, which to his way of thinking is under constant attack. To assuage that fragile ego, he systematically dismantles every forward thinking initiative that President Obama initiated in his attempts to address climate change in a substantive way. He does this in an attempt to diminish the dignity and respect he is shown throughout the world, and if our beautiful Earth suffers in the process, he appears to be OK with that. My heart simply aches from the constant barrage of Trump's mean spiritedness towards most everything.
737
@Peter I see a relationship between his sense of entitlement when it comes to his history of ravaging women, many of whom have come forward, AND this expression of ownership, use and abuse of lands. Not to mention the easing of legal and financial concerns for his corporate and filthy-rich buddies..... many of whom contributed to his election success.
74
@Peter
Alas, agreed. His hatred of the earth must be a projection of the relentless hatred he has for himself.
How can it not be? He, more than anyone, knows how many people he has lied to, conned and cheated; how much he has destroyed in order to glorify his execrable self; how much scorn he has for the good and trusting people who have believed him; how much energy he must expend to keep from feeling the truth about himself. How could any sentient being not hate that?
63
@Peter. We need to recall that the reason that Obama resorted to rule changes to legislation was usually because the Republican Congress was intent on obstructing his every action whenever possible. Unfortunately for the nation Trump uses the same method but without the rationale simply because it is no longer necessary to get legislation when a wave of his scepter can do the trick and turn back the clock to the good old days of corporate pollution.
59
Logic dictates that many substances get into fresh waterways by running of from land. Many pollutants do not just drop out of the air. So land near waterways, lakes, streams, pond must be protected to prevent contaminants from running off from them. The Obama rule that protects water in this way would protect, as this article says, one third of the drinking water in the US. And it was limiting pollution in 60% of the nation's water bodies.
The country has gotten dangerously crowded and pollutants are common on farm lands and other non-farm areas such that those lands needed protection. The rules have many exceptions to allow farmers normal operating procedures.
This is a horrid roll-back of a health and safety regulation that can only lead to health
problems and water deterioration in our country.
Repeat: The EPA has a large number of exemptions from these rules that protect farming and agriculture from undue burdens. The rules do not protect any new types of waters that have not historically been covered under the Clean Water Act and are consistent with the Supreme Court's more narrow reading of the Clean Water Act jurisdiction. "These rules clarified the protection for the upstream waters that are absolutely vital to downstream communities, " said former EPA administrator Gina McCarthy. "Clean water is essential to every single American, from families who rely on safe places to swim and healthy fish to eat, to farmers who need abundant and reliable sources of water."
2
What do polluted air, contaminated water and a hotter climate have in common? Do they all benefit our wealth class in some way?
Now, our government may decide who may pollute on a case-by-case basis. Would that motivate some to make calculated political contributions?
7
It's difficult to imagine what could come next. Mandatory installation of asbestos in all new buildings? Trump personally setting alight barrels of crude oil in every national park and school?
8
Gosh I just read that Trump used to sell ‘Trump Ice Natural Spring Water’. It was discontinued in 2010. I am guessing due to lack of contaminants. Well, now that the waters all around the country stand to become dirtier than ever, he can bring it back in different flavors and colors. Hint to diplomatic visitors to the White House, bring your own water bottles.
5
Trump's cult members must believe that only Democrats breathe air and drink water.
How else to explain their utter disregard of their own and their children's health and well being?
19
Does this Administration understand that you can't drink, breathe, or eat money?
No sympathy for the future generations?
12
Yes, but he's sticking it to those dem/libs isn't he? This is what a strong leader does. This is why we are in far more trouble than we realize. We are farther gone than we realize.
11
I've never been so glad that I chose to not reproduce. So glad.
9
This is insane! Tax breaks for the rich, warehousing of the poor, death and illness to the environment, the US, and the planet and its creatures, including the rest of us--with no decent healthcare, to boot. Insanity. To what purpose? Getting rich on a dead planet. MAGA.
20
TRUMP IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED Under any circumstances! For example, he was violating the emoluments clause of the Constitution by hawking his Doral estate as the location for the G 7 Summit next year. It seems that that was an ethical violation, as Trump is NOT permitted to earn money from his business interests from overseas sources without the approval of Congress. Even so, the Doral Estate has been cite, reportedly, for repeated sanitation violations including infestations of rodents, vermin and insects. Furthermore, it is shocking evidence of the severe deterioration of Trump's mental functioning. He knew or should have known, that his Doral property is probably under investigation for severe, repeated sanitary violations. Only a person incapable of rational thought would proudly offer a property to the G 7 world leaders, who would reject staying at any unclean property, especially one left to become filthy with repeated citations for infestations of rodents, vermin and insects, after bragging about how beautiful the property is and its proximity to an airport He can't even get his act together to promote his properties competence! That's pathetic! It's also dangerous. Think of his inability to discern whether legal standards are being met for anything and everything! He is medically impaired and incapable of performing his oath of office. The 25th Amendment MUST be invoked immediately. Meanwhile, a question: Does Trump stay at his filthy Doral himself?
5
Donald Trump keeps proving that with his Presidency ( I still can’t believe that he is POTUS! ) The Gutter Has Come To Power!
13
Republicans are killing us with guns; pollution; De Regulation of big business. Take a page from Trump's playbook. Sue them.
15
My ten year old grandson has asked me why President Trump is doing so many bad things to hurt our environment. I tried to explain how corporations were dictating what they want done in order to make more money. I could see how he could not understand how so called "grown-ups" were allowing these assaults to happen,and how wrong this is even to a ten year old.
Can you imagine how idiotic this administration will look(and already does) to his generation? Why on earth are we allowing all this destruction?
12
Wait until his tweets are published in history books right next to the Magna Carta.
4
Wait until his tweets are published in history books right next to the Magna Carta.
How catastrophic can it get? At least we now know who Trump’s biggest 2020 campaign contributors are.
6
I would like to know what NC-9 thinks of this.
Is this what you voted for? Have a glass of poison water courtesy of your elected republicans
11
This is why the right wing community loves Trump. He would let the world descend into a new dark age to give reactionaries what they have wanted since the misguided people supported child labor laws and product safety regulations after the Gilded Age.
7
PCB laced marine microplastic is displacing phytoplankton, half gone in my lifetime. Phytoplankton is the beginning of the food chain and sequesters the CO2 we all worry about and creates most of the oxygen we breathe. As it goes we go and it is going because the filth of humanity, condoms, medical waste, dirty diapers, tampons, factory runoff, farm runoff washes off our streets and into streams and rivers and becomes homogenized in the oceans impossible to remove. Even with every regulation in force we may be doomed. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1720647534
10
Duke Energy and the Republicans are clapping so loudly in North Carolina that it is echoing in my mountains. What big business is celebrating in your state?
9
MAGA is a thoroughly misleading slogan. Basted on his actions and policy, clearly Trump & Co are messaging the refrain “Death to America”. There is no way around this fact.
11
These articles seem to always omit perspective. Will this ridiculous roll back truly become law? Will it be challenged and stalled somehow?
When can I expect to once again see foam on the Hudson?
8
This man is destroying the USA and yet his party and his supporters think it's great. I so hope he is gone in 2020.
6
So now the entire country will become Flint Michigan?
8
Absolutely! I can’t wait to hear republicans reasoning on this one, oh wait a minute they say nothing! We don’t drink water at my daughters house. And the kicker is her monthly bill is astronomical. That’s what you pay for added chemicals I guess.
4
This is unacceptable. We must resist this onslaught against humanity. Greed will never be satisfied, and when all of the water is polluted, Trump and his ilk will still try to sell us out. RESIST!
8
The Trump Administration exposes so clearly what an absolute mockery of the democratic process it is to allow each incoming administration to essentially rewrite their own laws every 4 years. The Presidency is outdated as a function component of government and should be replaced by a purely legislative figure like a prime minister. At least then we could have a vote of no confidence and throw the bum out!!
4
Media, don’t use the phrase “campaign promise fulfilled”! You are focusing on the wrong thing. If I hate my brother and promise to kill him, does the news story frame my action as a “promise fulfilled”? No. It’s murder, a crime committed.
With Trump news reporting, it’s not editorializing — it is calling out the inevitable effect his action will cause. So that people will take notice, and take action.
In this case: VOTE. (Hint: R or D, we drink the same water, breathe the same air.)
4
TEN. Trump has ten grandchildren. Does he not care about their health? Are they drinking and bathing with Evian, the alleged natural spring water from the Alps?
6
I always wondered about that as he has destroyed a lot of our environment. Our mistake is thinking he cares about anyone but himself.
3
@Lynn - "Does he not care about their health? "
He is only vaguely aware of them (except Ivanka of course) as he stated "She’s got a son" when referring to his wife, the First Lady, and their son Barron. (Or was he telling us something by say she had a son?)
2
@Lynn
Actually, Melania's exotic bathing ritual for son Barron and products used -- not your standard tap water to be sure -- was well detailed in an article (Vanity Fair?) shortly after Nov. 2016.
All of it was weird ... but to your point, yes, they (I'll go on a hunch here and lump in Ivanka) are absolutely going to an entirely different level of 'water-related' products for themselves and their children that are very far away from what the masses use.
2
This is how much Trump cares about the people of this country: For money, willing to poison us all.
7
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Water_Rule One wishes that reporters took even rudimentary time to find out some of the background facts and didn't rush toward condemning outrage.
Lest we forget, Trump chose NOT to attend the session on climate at the recent G7 summit. His attacks on the EPA's efforts, bolstered by Pres. Obama, are simply his petty jealousies of a successful and highly popular president.
7
The major geographic artery of the U.S. -- the Mississippi River -- empties into the Gulf of Mexico, yielding an ~ 8,000 square mile dead zone.
That's what you get when you drain America.
When you feed America, you get ~ 100 million adults with diabetes or pre-diabetes.
When you raise the children of America, you get > 70% that are too damaged to serve in the military.
When it rains, you get micro-plastic. (It's not water; it's diluted plastic.)
And we're helping to arm the Sky and Ocean with weapons of mass extinction.
Verily, we're bad at relationships...
Lethally bad.
Thank God and Goodness that in 2014, 19% of the GDP was advertising.
Priorities man, life's all about priorities.
It's a shame the fundaments of passing multilevel selection tests don't make the list.
10
These changes are not going to be a threat to any major drinking water sources. It was an overreach of the federal government into the lives of many for no other reason that "boy it really sounds like we are doing something of consequence."
For those who call Trump a dictator or fascist in nature, this is a rollback of presidential overreach, an example of the executive branch implementing new and consequential law without Congressional approval.
Any new major restrictions need to be from Congress, not from the executive branch.
1
@Marvin
Tell that to he who declared a national emergency in order to build a wall. Executive branch, my foot.
3
Well... only voters can make a difference regardless of ideology.
1
Without clean water we do not exist. Think it over and protect the water.
5
Sue Trump & Co immediately. If this doesn’t infringe on citizens rights to life itself, I don’t know what was. I miss our government looking out for US citizens instead of solely focusing on corporate profits. Party and profits over health and humanity.
2
I am in favor of deregulation.
I am not in favor of removing protections for my water!
How can anyone, Republican or Democrat think it is ok to dump chemicals in your streams, and lakes.
6
What exactly do you think deregulation means? Serious question, since this is the epitome of deregulation.
3
@Liberal Texan It means, get rid of anything I don't like. If others are affected, tough.
3
Why would anyone want to protect our water from pollution if there’s so much money at stake, so much business to be made, right Donald?
1
Thank God! I was hoping to get some poison in my water.
This is really another example of Trump playing 4 dimensional chess and baffling us with his genius.
See Trump says, "I know how to immigrants from coming to the USA! I will trash the United States - poison the water and air, open up national parks and forests to drilling and mining - you know deface the beautiful places people might find pleasant. Then of course we need to get rid of the jobs. I can launch a couple of trade wars and shut down the economy. Problem solved - who wants to immigrate to a country I have wrecked?"
This is the Great Trumpian Wall - more a force field of economic and environmental decline that repels would be immigrants.
Brilliant!
2
I saw a talk show clip where the guest was an advocate of fracking and claiming there was no pollution and everything was safe and clean. When the host offered the guest a glass of water, then mentioned it was from a "clean" water well from a farm near a fracking operation, the guest visibly blanched and put the glass aside.
That's all you need to know about repealing regulations designed to keep our water and air clean.
8
Demand for kidney and liver transplants will skyrocket.
Dialysis Equipment Suppliers will flourish.
Manufacturer of water filtration equipment and purification systems for hemodialysis will benefit. Producers of carbon filters, multimedia filters, organic scavengers, dealkalizers, water softeners, reverse osmosis systems, storage tanks, resin regeneration/recycling, custom designed RO systems, bicarbonate and acid concentrate systems, disinfection systems, clean-in-place systems, distribution loops will explode their profitability.
11
The arguments of those who opposed the Obama-era rule falls down as soon as their chemicals are washed off of their land.
If those upset by the rule want to avoid it, then they just need to build waterproof walls around their property line - taller on the lower elevation side to prevent spillover.
3
"Those changes would represent a victory for farmers and rural landowners, who lobbied the Trump administration aggressively to make them."
Translation: They mean Big AG / GOP donors.
21
The same farmers who are collecting welfare checks due to trump’s tariffs war with China.
5
@Tim
Yeah exactly
Like with the billion dollar handouts ( aka welfare ), the mom and pop farmers aren't getting a lick of benefit from this administration
What they get is the Kochs and Cargills dumping on their land and scooping it up for pennies on the dollar
4
If you visit America:
1. Avoid interactions with the police, and especially ICE.
2. Be sure you have sufficient medical insurance or you risk incurring debilitating debt.
3. Don’t drink the water.
29
"But it will quite likely strip away protections of so-called ephemeral streams, in which water runs only during or after rainfalls ..."
OK, so during a dry season poisons can accumulate on dry beds, and then be washed into permanent tributaries during a downpour?
7
For rollbacks like this I could not vote for Trump!
7
What else is there except clean water?
16
A few things are quite obvious here. Donald hates Obama so anything Obama did, whether it was good for America or not, will be destroyed by Donald. Just because of some dinner were Obama helped Donald make a fool of himself.
Secondly, Donald wishes to make money. Period. And the only way to do this is relax or destroy ANY rules or laws that hinder big business so that Donald gets kickbacks or future business clout when Donald wants to advance his personal interests.
The President of the Untied States no longer exists for the benefit of Americans...It is on hiatus while Donald fills his pockets with our cash and unfortunately a third of the country can't or won't acknowledge this.
What a pathetic nation the US had become.
33
This isn't so much a Presidency as 4 years of vandalism, intolerance, trolling, and spitefulness. I assume Republicans are happy, but what has their America become in the process?
36
Would someone explain to me how any parent or grandparent can put their child at risk by supporting the environmental policies of this administration? Is it ignorance to the facts, is it denial or is it drinking the Trump Kool-Aid (mixed in with polluted water)?
13
@Louis
If FOX News doesn't say anything negative about the policies, they must be good for America. If they don't speak about them at all, then ignorance is bliss. This is the America we live in.
2
@Louis The wealthier the family, the further away they live. The further away they live, the more easily they can "realize" there is no pollution. So what's your problem?
To me, it seems as if Donald Trump believes all life begins and ends with him. For Trump and Jair Balosaros of Brazil, the natural world and nature is for them to exploit for profit or for their entertainment. All life ends with them and their selfish anthropocentric way of living. Thank you New York Times for being custodians of this Earth and its bounty we all share. How can humanity be so self-absorbed, so selfish?
10
What time does the revolution start?
9
To me these are crimes against humanity.
14
It has always been the case that the cost of avoiding the pollution is nothing compared to the cost of harm to life and clean up.
Disgusting corruption !
12
If this happens I’ll be dumping my barrel of painting waste in creek in a red district.
7
Our legal morass concerning the environment is turning into the Wanda Sykes standup sketch "clean to dirty, clean to dirty." Another term of this Administration will be an absolute nightmare for future generations.
4
I guess the thought process behind this is that Trump wants the rest of America to subside on nothing but Diet Coke. I really don’t see any rational thought behind this heinous action.
4
@Ken Quinney Rational? You don't see rational? But this Like Very Smart Man says it's so obvious. How could you miss it?
Regulations are bad. Regulations stifle profit. Regulations are a form of socialism. Regulations are not necessary because businesses are thinking about you citizen and of course they don't want to hurt you!
Thus says the science hating GOP. Funny thing about water though. Water moves around. It is subject to the scientific 'laws' of our earth. It goes down into the aquifer. It travels downstream.
Polluted water from county X travels into county Z and so on.
There is nothing short of greedy willful ignorance with this rollback. In keeping with true practice, next the Trump administration will not require testing for pollutants and will hide the results from the public. Because hey, do you really need to know what is in your drinking water? And who can say where the pollution came from?
Ruining our water for money. Money for the 1%.
12
Everyone can argue about the Trump administration's intention(s) on this and similar actions until they're blue in the face. Since most of the 800+ comments will do this, I prefer to step back and note how petty, vindictive, and short-sighted Trump and his enablers are....because, as scientific research has proven, only Democrats and liberals are negatively affected by air and water and food pollution.
7
@Alan Grossberg Commenters signed in as Democrats ?
1
Trump not only detains immigrants in cages at the border and separates children from their parents,but he is instituting dangerous and life threatening regulations which will make our lives more miserable and more prone to disaster and disease.He is a threat to immigrants but is also a threat to the citizens of this country. We want clean water and clean air more than his mining cronies want big profits.People consumed 14 billion plus gallons of bottled water last year in the United States, outstripping the sale of any other beverage.People want clean water, Mr.Trump , and they don”t want to have to buy it.Clean air and water is a potent campaign issue and you, Mr.Trump, are on the wrong side of history.
6
So, Trump actions put "the rights" of farmers, rural landowners and real estate developers to pollute by using polluting chemicals near streams, wetlands and water bodies as being more important than the need of ALL American citizens for clean, safe water.
This is just another effort of this insecure president to undermine the work and accomplishments of President Obama.
Pitiful.
4
Trump & Pence recently asked NASA how soon they could revisit the Moon. 10 years they said. As ridiculous as it sounds, I wouldn't put it past the Billionaire's club to be seriously looking into building an "Ark" to take them to the Moon or Mars or wherever - at the tax payers expense - leaving 99.99% of us marooned on the planet they destroyed with no leadership or infrastructure in place.
This is horrendously severe but, if we carry on the way we are, everything will be ruined, everybody will hate each other and it will be complete & utter annihilation.
It's dumbfounding that a great portion of the population buys into their hog wash. At the end of the day, what does it honestly matter to a regular citizen if the agricultural or industrial sectors have to operate more cleanly? How can that possibly affect them in any negative way whatsoever? The only solution I can think of is commodity price. But if any of these people think the sell price of any consumable will decrease as a result of rolled back EPA regulations then they're madder than I thought.
If you're of the opinion that this article is describing a good thing - not from a commercial perspective but from the standpoint of a regular citizen - could you educate me on what aspect of your quality of life, as well as those that proceed you, is anticipated to be improved please?
3
@JK - if it were Trump and Pence going to the moon personally, I say spare no expense, let's get it done sooner rather than later.
3
@b fagan Men in the moon.
Two of them?
What a bargain ! What a sight !
2
Republicans are anti-democratic, anti-science, and anti-social conscience. As we saw in North Carolina yesterday, democracy is an impediment to implementing the selfish evil agenda of corporations. They will poison the Earth and make it unliveable for futures generations for the sake of cheap avaricious gratification today.
Republicans are anti-democratic, anti-science, and anti-social conscience. As we saw in North Carolina yesterday, democracy impedes implementing the selfish evil agenda of corporations whom they serve in order to fill their own pockets. Without hesitation they will poison the Earth and make it unliveable for futures generations for the sake of cheap avaricious gratification today.
In the Detroit Free Press this morning is the story of Republicans cheering their success of stopping the Governer from fixing Michigan's crumbling infrastructure. That's how sick and determined Republicans are to return this country to the days of Robber barons, filthy waterways, poison air, and barren natural wonders.
What was begun by Teddy Roosevelt, and continued ever since for the benefit of all Americans, is now being undermined by Republican greed.
2
@chemist
Whoops, I carelessly repeated one of my paragraphs.
So now the Republicans are against clean water. Unbelievable.
6
@Kristine No, actually, they're in favor of clean water. Just not for immigrants.
Who needs clean water anyway. So much winning.
4
Hatred for our natural environment the way Trump and many of his supporters display it is a hatred of the self. Their own existence. It's a doomsday cult, a brief flare up of rapacious desire for power and wealth before its inevitable and welcome destruction. People so afraid of the unknown and unexplainable that they prefer destroying themselves first.
3
Absolutely unbelievable. Every day. Several times a day if fact. America is brought to a new low. Morals, ethics, decency, truth, honor, love, justice , equality compassion, basically all the better angels of humanity, are being thrown out the window by this evil and dastardly crew. My only hope is that
all the cowards in office in Washington who have blindly supported these actions, and their entire political party , are shamed and voted out in the next election and written into the history books as traitors one and all.
3
Making America great again. So much winning. And the billionaires get richer while the poor people who vote for him get conned again.
2
Trump doesn't believe in environment.
He only believes in money.
3
Only a few US companies and municipalities will start dumping more chemicals and sewage into our potable drinking waters (tributaries, rivers and streams) now that Trump says they can. Trump will himself be in the dumpster next year, and the rest of his garbage proliferation laws will be halted on day one of the next presidency.
2
The USA has evolved into an age of indulgence. Its priorities:
Authoritarian Warpage: exchanging moral principle for the delusional pursuits of wealth and power.
Exhilaration: embracing the glamours of evil.
Convenience: to excrete where we eat, drink and breathe.
Abandonment: of responsibility for our children's future.
On the geological time scale, this may a be a brief, educational episode to be corrected by its survivors.
Otherwise, it will be eliminated by reactions of the Biosphere now underway as indicated by the data collected by the Earth Sciences.
1
Great. Clean water is overrated, anyway. Just ask the residents of Flint.
3
This is a regressive tax on all of us who don't have enough money to live in a bubble. While the whiny farmers and the corporations profit, the rest of us suffer. We suffer from dirty air and unsafe water. We suffer from increased wildfires and volatile weather. We suffer from a lack of green spaces and parks in our communities. We suffer from a lack of availability and affordability of a variety of healthy foods (thank you, soy bean and corn industry). These roll-backs greatly effect our health and well-being. It's these seemingly small things that we are told are no big deal, that we are told that it's just business as usual, when in fact they end up meaning everything in life. Trump, I can't wait until the headlines read "TRUMP - YOU'RE FIRED."
2
If your water is brown and toxic it’s time to step up to crystal clean Trump bottled water, now available in three great sizes. It’s expensive, but aren’t your children worth it? Plus, your huge Trump tax deductions and generous agricultural subsidies will more than pay for all the luxury you deserve.
3
Ah all the people who drive cars are here to say how horrified they are. This problem is so dwarfed by our dependancy on carbon emitting petroleum products it doesn't really matter, at all. We could protect all the water in the world and will still probably all be killed by climate change in the next century. Maybe we should fix the big issue first before politically posturing about things that are inconsequential if we don't solve our carbon emissions problem.
It would be more informative if this article was accompanied by a map of US states indicating the extent of current water pollution. It would give us all clarity to visualize what can happen in our very near future and who stands to be more affected by this seemingly looser standard for clean water.
Drumpf wants to chalk up another 'accomplishment' by rolling back/eliminating another regulation that Pres Obama's administration put in place to help protect the environment and have an impact on climate change.
It's business and profit over health and the environment
1
The end to the steady drip, drip, drip, of Trump's water deregulation will only start with his getting run out of office.
And with that said, along with Trump getting tossed into the dustbin of history will be his steady drip, drip, drip of the sycophants, waiting in line to replace those Trump eventually tires of, with all of their lasting legacies firmly clenched in History's crosshairs, eventually looking exactly like
what came out of one man's stilted vision during 1930's and 40's Europe.
Question?
How is it this Republican Party is so absolutely clueless, and shamelessly so at that, to the disdain they will forever wear around their necks once they too reside in the dustbin of history.
What is it they just don't get? Time is running out for them. The price they'll pay for not stepping forward to condemn what they have been a part of will forever be discussed, questioned throughout the annals of history, just like those who believed in a thousand year Reich.
The clock ticking for them to measure time is no longer a metronome, but instead History's hour glass whose sands of time are slipping past faster and faster by the day.
2
So now, companies and individuals can throw poisonous containments into our streams, wetlands, and rivers that flow into our drinking water supply.
Now, we can have Flint, Michigan nationwide.
And Trump boasted in July that we have the cleanest drinking water in the world, and his solution is to pollute it.
I hope Trump got paid for this, but I am sure he did.
1
I'll guarantee that this will not be included in the news on Fox nor will the auto emissions rollbacks. Trump's cult lives in the dark.
3
It’s official — Trump has led us into Room 101 where we are being subjected to our worst fears.
2
EPA ROLLBACKS and FAKE NEWS. How is it possible anyone in the media can talk about a booming economy and be serious? The cost of cleaning up the mess that Trump's EPA is reaping will add enormously to an already disastrous financial reckoning called our national debt. How can an economy be booming when trillions that are not being spent, not being accounted for, and are left out of any economic equations. Any sane person, which seems to exclude the present administration and the GOP, knows we needed to start dealing with climate change as a priority yesterday, as did President Obama in spite of the GOP Congress blocking many of his efforts which led to weaker executive orders. Without accounting for the cost of climate change Congressional budgets might as well be written on toilet paper and used to wipe in the appropriate places. If you have, or care about children and what they will inherit, then do not keep denying the cost of climate change. Hollywood makes end of the world movies and people flock to them. I can assure you no one will be flocking to the flooded coastlines and the sinking cities around the world in the next 20 years. Grow up America and let's elect a president in 2020 who cares about saving the planet. And lets get rid of Moscow Mitch, and take back the Senate, or any sane efforts to save the planet will be stymied by his and the GOP’s inbred environmental ignorance.
2
Trump, the grim reaper of rational laws, never met a "chaotic program" he didn't like. His next initiative is rumored to be a law which requires farmers to pour toxic pollutants into at least three streams and one major body of water per month.
1
As so often happens recently, I'm reminded of Wendell Berry's poem, "Questionnaire". His first question asks:
How much poison are you willing
to eat for the success of the free
market and global trade? Please
name your preferred poisons.
2
On the list of Trump's transgressions should be added his crimes against humanity. The air we breath, the water we drink and this criminal does all he can to spoil it for everyone.
2
I mean, its not like we are entitled to clean water, right? this administration definitely is killing its citizen both quickly and slowly. but I'm guessing that is the price we pay for wanting a president you like to have a beer with (and 0, i mean 0 experience)
2
My one hope is that a toxic sewer pipe will now be allowed to dump into the water supplying Mar A Lago.
But that’s not how it ever works. The lawyers get involved, and it’s the poor neighborhoods that end up paying the price for our rich businessmen’s greed.
Capitalism: Privatize the gains, socialize the losses
2
The article says: "Mr. Trump, who characterized it as a federal land-grab that impinged on the rights of farmers, rural landowners and real estate developers to use their property as they see fit."
The problem with this is that water pollution, like air pollution, does not stay on the property of the polluter, but effects all of us.
2
The irony with all this is likely this is going to affect Trump nation more than it does people in blue states. EPA regulations are minimums , states can and do have the right to implement tighter restrictions than the federal government. The only time congress can step in is where regulations in a state involve another state, a power plant in state A that pollutes the air and river water that ends up in state B, B cannot force that power plant to abide by its regulations, as long as the power plant is abiding by federal standards. By for plants located in a state, they have every right to regulate it.
The reason we have federal regulations is because we had states , to attract business, they told industry "do what you want" to attract them there, and then the pollution they generated was affecting other states (acid rain was the classic example, coal fired power plants and smelters in the midwest with their nice 300 foot tall smokestacks, caused acid rain in New england and the Northeast that was killing lakes and rivers.
1
Another day, another sensible regulation repealed. We cannot become inured to the onslaught of Trump's repeals of previous administrations' intelligent environmental legislation.
We must get out and vote next November to stop this man from ruining our planet for our children, grandchildren and future generations.
Vote with your eyes and minds open.
Vote for your lungs.
Vote for your thirst.
Vote!
7
At long last the popular minority of Americans that elected Trump will not only have poorer water quality then what they currently enjoy but will also share that poorer water with the popular majority that voted against Trump. Now that’s ‘MAGA’ in action!
9
Here in NJ the eagles and hawks and ospreys have returned as the lakes flourished with fish. This year at least two or three lakes had severe algae blooms killing fish, dogs and hurting tourism. (Hey Flordia remember your algae bloom last year?)
How can anyone believe that rolling these rules back will be a boon for their neighborhood?
7
I hope this wanton self-destruction promoted by Trump is brought up in the debates tonight, let it be said clearly and listed that this and other pollution deregulation has been greenlighted by Trump. Even Republicans don't want to go back to the bad old days when people didn't know what this did to health and the environment. It is not helping anyone to hurry the destruction of clean air and water along. This is pure nihilism.
20
@Luccia
"Even Republicans don't want to go back to the bad old days..." - Unless they speak up, I don't believe this for a minute.
1
If the repeal is intended to help farmers, why is it being announced at the headquarters of the National Association of Manufacturers?
19
Another campaign promise fulfilled by our president with a severe mental disorder the media has little skill in appropriately addressing. Oh well..."Make America Irate Again!"
9
Too bad Trump doesn't have to drink the water he's leaving everyone else to drink.
19
Donald J Trump committed to roll back what this nation achieved and did, Since George Washington.
Simply undoing America.
13
The NRDC has been tracking Trump's assault against Life on Earth, & Trump's Lies to justify it.
The totality of what he's been up to is bewildering.
While Trump distracts & misdirects with absurdist scandals, tweets & outrages, this is what he's really been up to:
https://www.nrdc.org/trump-watch
https://www.nrdc.org/trump-lies
The nation must get it together & remove this Radical, Anti-Environmentalist Extremist from office, & urgently reverse ALL of his executive orders & policies.
Trumpism is a catastrophe for America & the world.
15
The republicans do not want you to vape. That is because not enough people do. Roll back environment protections and they can make more people sick and crippled.
10
This is a continuation of Trump's weird need to erase as much of the Obama legacy as he can regardless of the consequences. It's more a reflection of Trump's unbalanced mental state than a rational policy. It's really nuts.
13
Trump voters need more lead in the water to keep voting for Trump...
11
Recycled from Joie Anderson New York 1h ago because it bears repeating.
The stinging truth. "If Obama Had Cured Cancer, Trump Would Be Undoing That."
17
This ought to be a non-partisan issue of importance to environmentalists, hunters, fishermen, and pretty much anyone who eats or drinks on the planet. The press could help clarify this issue by not framing it as ‘another Trump deed,’ but rather by leading with the facts on the outcomes of the rule change. “Rule change will increase toxicity of water supplies, livestock, and wildlife.”
9
Surely there are federal rules and regulations, or laws, some of which may be obscure but still effective, that would block proven efforts that are environmentally harmful?
How is it possible for any administration to deliberately, or not, issue executive orders contrary to common health and well-being?
Is there a Senator or Representative, lawyer or environmental group that can answer that question? Or a Times' reader?
These past three years I have become a firm believer in retribution, divine or otherwise, and spend too much time devising retaliations and purposeful vengeance where due. If only I had the means...
2
Democrats must create ballot initiatives that protect the environment (clean air and water, combat climate change, etc.) These initiatives will not only help enhance the quality of our lives, but will also bring younger voters to the polls, and hopefully lead to more victories by Democratic candidates in all elections ranging local to Senate and Presidential.
5
Then
Flint water is okay anymore.
even better mineral water quality, Lead , arsenic, cadmium rich water.
3
At the heart of this is Crimes Against Humanity, even against American citizens. We should be in the Criminal Court at the Hague, just so our own criminals can be charged. Ignoring Environmental Justice is a way to poison a lot of people fast, including poisoning the planet with runaway warming, which is happening fast--decades instead of 1000s of years.
5
This move illustrates one reason I voted for Trump and will vote for him again. I think that he, personally, is a deplorable person. But policy moves like this -- which undo the damage done by Obama and radical environmentalists -- more than make up for his personal failings.
@Sabrina Davis
I just want to get this right. You are against clean air and water (the building blocks of life)?
20
@Sabrina Davis what will be your response when you or loved ones become ill from the toxic air, water & earth and you have no health insurance to cover your care? You identify as being in the southern US, an area that seems to have little regard to your safety. Live (or die) of the consequences, but your misguided choice inflicts harm on others who are innocents.
1
Think of it more as being a big booster of giant agribusiness, golf courses, and irresponsible jerks who dump the hog flop in the creek.
Fortunately, our esteemed whatever-he-is has no investment in golf courses.
1
Welcome to the wonderful world of the GOP, where we need to go back to the good old days before the EPA, before the clean water act, because regulation "destroys businesses" and "costs jobs". Yet how many times when the bill comes due for this stupidity, when the cost of de regulation hits people and businesses, do those same people immediately start the war cry "the government has to help us". The refiners down in Louisiana left a toxic mess that caused all kinds of sickness to the people who lived there, left valuable resources like rivers and lakes fouled beyond belief and beaches left closed due to toxic waste, and ultimately ended up costing the government billions and billions to clean these up under the superfund laws (the companies that did it, of course, were long gone, never paid a dime).
Conservatives get upset when people castigate them as meanspirited, cold, and uncaring, but time and again conservatism seems to be about making the quick buck, destroying the planet, and then wanting to be bailed out from the consequences of their stupidity, and generally they are.
11
Astonishing. Who is against clean water?
8
I think so-called "conservatives" should now be called for what they are: radicals. They don't want to conserve this beautiful land, they don't want to conserve resources, they don't want to conserve fresh water and clean air for future generations; they don't even want to conserve this planet. Instead, they want it all NOW for short-term greed and profits, and they'll break whatever they can to get it.
9
Trump administration all actions are for every day chipping one piece away from our foundation of Nation, Government and country of USA
3
I know this will be overturned if a Dem gets elected in 2020, but in meantime, I hope this will mainly effect red states (and it sounds like it will). I know this sounds horrible, but this is what they voted for. They seem to welcome poisoned air and water, so let them have it.
12
Americans who know that hurricane Dorian was going to hit Alabama also KNOW that heavy metals and pesticides are part of a healthy American diet. Correctly, as part of this new regulation every GOP Senator needs to put a heathy dose of Roundup on their breakfast cereal each morning. Yes, let us "Make America Great Again."
6
In what way does further poisoning of our precious water serve the American people?
7
Oh but if vote for a progressive agenda, clean water will be a socialist item. Bad bad bad...those progressives out there...
5
Thank god we have finally gotten rid of those pesky clear air laws and regulations. I mean, really. Who needs that?
Bring smog back to NYC and LA WHERE IT BELONGS!
7
@Russell Gontar
I meant clean water, but trump doesn't care about clean air either.
1
Swing-state"Green" Party voters must be so proud.
8
@Marty
I hope they're happy, and that they sleep well at night. Same goes for all those Bernie Bros who sat home in Nov 2016 because Hillary wasn't pure enough.
3
@Marty Yup. I believe they were all Trumpers all along but were embarrassed to admit it.
1
Considering who this will hurt, I say good!!! The less of Middle America the better!
5
Trump's kid's like to go to Africa to hunt exotic big-game animals. Why not make it easier for them by opening up America's zoos and game preserves. What fun! Don Jr. could bag a zebra or gorilla without the bother of leaving NYC. Bronx zoo is just a short limo ride away. He could nail the big five big game animals from the big five (boroughs)!
I'd like him and the rest of the family to enjoy a big drink of water from the Gowanus canal in Brooklyn.
2
Just have to survive one more year of this deplorable human being in charge, after that, a Democrat is elected, gets rid of EVERYTHING Trump has implemented, put back Obama's regulations, and some of his/her own.
4
The US laws were already much less regulating that in Europe.
the criterias to declare fruits or vegetable "Organic " are much less astringent than the criterias in the EU for products labelled " Biologique " and there are in the EU 2 levels of " biologique " accreditation.
The first level of Agriculture biologique means that absolutely no irritating products of petroleum synthesis are used.
No sterilisation by irradiation.
Ground not contaminated by pesticides since at least 3 years.
No GMO. etc..
Regular state controls.
The second level is much more strict : ground and water must be regularly tested for no contamination.
Only biodynamic agriculture without any sulfites.
But the US criteria is far below even the lowest European "biologique " label.
In the US you can start tomorrow to grow "organic " products on land that was yesterday contaminated with pesticides and who controls ?
imagine growing "organic " fruits in the San Joaquin Valley where the water is declared unsafe fro drinking.
Fruits labelled "organic " but watered with water unsafe for drinking because too highly contaminated with pesticides !!!
It is like chicken in the USA that can be labelled " Free Range " if they are expelled from their cages once a week for cleaning.
5
Legalizing pollution doesn't make it any less toxic.
Is it within the rights of people to literally fight back against polluters whose greed is threatening their health? What does the law say about that?
5
Once again, many in the US believe in forcing their religious beliefs in a country that espouses religious freedoms. These people who are fighting and winning to retain Christian Totalitarianism throughout the world believe that men have a divine right over the environment. They see environmentalists as their enemy and the decimation of clean water is considered a win for them.
4
Remember when protecting the environment and natural resources were bipartisan goals? Unless you recall the early 70s it's unlikely that you do.
7
If one believes the land is theirs to use as they want then they can pay property taxes by the cubic foot all the way to the water table. The water is used by all and polluted by the few.
5
Here is the impact for my state of Wisconsin from this latest contempt for creation from Trump -
"Under the rule, farmers using land near streams and wetlands were restricted from doing certain kinds of plowing and from planting certain crops, and would have been required to obtain E.P.A. permits in order to use chemical pesticides and fertilizers that could have run off into those bodies of water. Those restrictions will now be lifted."
As if cancer is not already a major problem due to chemical run off from farms and industries. Chris hedges is right - the GOP is all about destructive policies. The replacement of the GOP is our future.
11
And to what end?
Short-term profits for Big Agra and mining corporations.
Long-term devastation for people and land.
1
This is the result of Dems who couldn’t be bothered to vote for “the lesser of two evils” in 2016. Hillary was “just as bad as” Donald. No, not by a long shot. Enjoy your tainted air and water, folks.
20
Unfortunately that sentiment is alive and well. Idealists aren't feeling "motivated" by some of the candidates. No doubt that if Trump wins re-election those same petulant voters will be in an uproar when Trump puts another justice on the SCOTUS.
3
@Tom W
Sure, sure, but it's time to stop pointing fingers. We can all still vote in 2020 - hope you'll be there, too.
The condemnation of these changes is appropriately directed at the Republicans and the Trump administration.
Please do not forget the number of americans who could not bring themselves to show up and vote for Hillary in 2016.
11
Hey! When we said we were all Flint, we meant it in solidarity, not literally.
5
"Mr. Trump, who characterized it as a federal land-grab that impinged on the rights of farmers, rural landowners and real estate developers to use their property as they see fit."
Do they not also live in the same country as us. If a stream flows through their land, have the the right to destroy it to everyone else's detriment. And, why can't Real Estate developers refrain from polluting our waterways. They belong to everyone, not just some rich person whose land they may intersect with. Rural Landowners? You mean farmers that want to use Round Up to pollute and poison everyone else for profit.
The apologists better wake up, they also need clean air and water and when there is none left, their money won't help. We will be at their doors ready to ask why and they better have a good answer.
5
When he was elected, I joked that Trump would bring back asbestos in schools. Hasn't happened yet, but we still have a year to go.
10
I have an expectation, before Trump's term out , he will abolish all natural park's and reverse the clock pre- Theodore Roosevelt time.
He is absolutely committed to create a new-Dickensian and Orwellian world.
6
It's the Devil's checklist.
Do the Trump grandchildren have different oceans than the rest of us, different rivers, different streams?
Do they simply breathe different air?
Or does he simply not care about anyone other then himself?
I've answered my question.
19
He's all about extraction of earth's resources without any curbs on the consequences. He wants his extraction cronies to take and take and take, and not be responsible for what happens afterwards. Wild places need to exist for the future, and exist unpolluted. And we all need clean drinking water! Why, oh why, does he continue to take actions that go against what is needed for the future of life on earth?
5
Trump is the Anti-Obama. Anything Obama did or was for Trump is against. If only Obama had been against campaign finance reform or dirty water. Trump and the GOP seem determined to erase Obama's legacy but they'll be the ones America is ashamed of for a long time. Blue tsunami time.
5
Just when you thought Trump couldn't get any uglier, we get this ruling from the White House. How unbelievably unjust. How terribly unfair.
Let Trump drink tap water from Flint, Michigan.
5
I'm curious if it's legal for Trump to take President Obama's picture off the wall in the White House?
I'm beginning to believe, if possible, he will.
1
I am disappointed that the article did such a poor job of explaining exactly what was good and effective about the Obama-era rule, and what exactly is bad about reversing its elements of overreach.
Readers are left triggered yet unenlightened.
1
@OldEngineer
While you have a point, that's also why there's Google.
Anyone who want to know what those Obama-rea regulations are can also look them up.
2
Trump's promise of "crystal-clear waters" is like any other Trump promise--a lie--just like his wedding vows.
5
How is it that no one has called Trumps policies a “War on the Environment?”
3
Another example of the GOP eschewing the needs of public safety. Yes, there are things about the Democrats that are unappetizing, but they do care about and enact laws that protect all of us against hidden dangers antagonistic to our public health.
4
Democrats don’t pass laws to specifically hurt other people.
The water of the San Joaquin Valley has been declared unsafe for human consumption because the underground water lakes are too highly contaminated with pesticides.
But what water is used to irrigate and spray the farm fields producing the vegetables and fruits sold all over the USA ?
The tap water is unsafe to drink but the fruits and vegetables grown with the same water are good to eat ?
The USA have a very low health and ecology control compared to Europe for exemple.
Water is controlled because it is historically a world wide reference of health , but who is controlling the level of pesticides in fruits and vegetables ?
4
There are a lot of advantages living next to the US but, unfortunately, pollution knows no boundaries. In the past, industry polluted the Great Lakes and consequently the St-Laurence river where I live. The same industries polluted our air and acid rain killed our lakes. Things have changed of course but it seems that progress isn’t linear.
BTW Greta will be in Montreal on September 27.
8
Hallelujah! If/when flavored e-cigarettes are banned by the current administration---Folks, you can now line up to get your daily dose of poison and chemicals from the WATER you drink and the AIR you breathe FREE of charge as regulations, ie, Obama administration regulations are rolled back.
11
America the beautiful. Ha.
5
What will our children and grandchilden think when they have to raise their children on a polluted, dying planet caused by an ignorant, self serving president and the Republicans that allowed this to happen!!
9
Trump just sealed his public (dis)service fate.
5
Is there anything sacred or vital you Americans won’t plunder or defile in pursuit of the almighty dollar?
7
@FilmMD
Guess you haven't heard what going on around the planet.
Look at what's happening to the Rain Forests of South America, Africa and Indonesia for a start.
It's called corporate greed -- and it isn't only a problem in America.
2
This administration behaves as if they are from another planet. Would they please return!
6
@Fred which brings us back to our concerns about Mercury in the diet.
2
Make him and his family drink it and swim in it.
5
While we are at it, let's bring back smog and get rid of seat belts, air bags and safety glass. Let's put led back into our water. We can all be just like Ferguson. Thanks again Trump.
9
@Paul Raffeld
Not to worry. Trump will get around to putting Freon back into air-conditioners and Chlordane back into the ground to kill those pesky termites. As long as there is short term money to be had, all bets are off with regard to outrageous policy decisions.
1
There really is nothing like having a "president" who could not care less about the health of the American People.
5
The Ag community made a poor choice when it decided to saddle up to the GOP and anti-regulation proponents...
... now it is enmeshed in the losing side of the culture wars...
... and victim to poor trade policy...
4
Trump and the pirates seem to have agendas with the following priorities:
1. Keep trump front and center (cult of personality)
1a. Get trump re-elected to benefit the rich and gun businesses
1b. Enable profiteering for polluters
1c. Substitute profits for safety - as is the case of reckless miners getting black lung disease but while making lots of money until they can't work any more
2. Doing anything to take away Obama's very popular signature programs which help the middle class and the poor.
2a. Enriching unpopular anti-environmentalists like Scott Pruitt.
2b. Taking money away from domestic programs and military families to build a "wall"
2c. Taking money from our national parks to fund his personal July 4th parade
7
This is in a nutshell what Trump and the GOP represent- pandering to business interests as if the rest of us can get by just fine drinking bottled water. I wish hope and pray that not only Trump goes down in flames in 2020 but also his conniving GOP whose only concern is the lobbyists and ignorant base they represent.
13
More winning, one would presume?
1
With every decision, the Administration makes it clear that the general public is to be expected to foot the bill for harms and damages caused by those who catch the ear of conservative influencers, or those who, like the owner of Murray Coal, simply wrap a wad of cash with a list of demands.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/09/climate/coal-murray-trump-memo.html
SO, voters who don't like Democrats, think of the following things you're paying for under the current mismanagement:
1 - algal blooms in lakes and rivers caused by runoff
2 - debt payments on a deficit-boosting tax plan that gave permanent tax breaks ONLY to the wealthy and businesses
3 - increased damages from rising sea levels and climate shifts due to more methane release, more coal pollution
4 - healthcare and pension payments for coal miners as their owners declared convenient bankruptcies, dumping benefits
5 - billions in payments to farmers as salve when tariff wars devastated their export trade (China's solidifying new suppliers, so the damage is long-term, too)
6 - spending your tiny tax break on higher prices from tariff wars
And now our leader wants interest rates cut below zero, so why bother with a bank account?
On the other hand, if you're a foreign investor, or happen to own a fossil fuel company, you're probably saving on taxes and those costly safety and anti-pollution rules Trump rolled back, and sitting pretty, on our dime.
6
Clean air and water = Democrat
Pollution of the air we breathe and the water we drink (basically, the building blocks of life) = Republican
Boy oh boy. That's a tough one.
8
Naturally...it was something the Obama administration did. This president is trying to dismantle everything Obama did out of jealousy and spite.
4
@davefe No. He may try to have a Secretary of something-or-other try to dismantle things, but he himself is too busy. He has a golf game.
The Trump regime attacks our environment, healthcare, alliances and trade policies, shifts funds from defense to a useless border wall, impedes necessary immigration, welshes on international agreements, embraces chaos and dictators, insults democracies, hires nincompoops and bad actors to direct key agencies, refuses to accept science, fills court vacancies with Medieval minds, creates division and brings racism to a boil. If the Kremlin ran the White House, what would it do differently?
4
I dearly hope this that this will be a leading topic at the Democrat's debate tonight.
9
@Fern Is there a debate tonight?
Does this mean that republicans don’t drink water, breathe air or eat food grown in soil?
From the looks of their actions to destroy the environment for a quick buck, I’d say they aren’t human like the rest of us.
9
@CC, I've heard that their reflections don't even appear in mirrors.
Apologies for a very silly joke. I am weary of the news lately, and it shows. :(
2
Does this man have no moral compass? I know...it's late in the game to ask this question, especially when we know the answer. He will go to great lengths to assure that his base continues to support him. Hopefully, some of them see through this charlatan and will fail to support him in the next election.
2
Making water dirty again is a rank and file issue. In my neighborhood there have been large rallies, thousands chanting “Make Dirty Water Great Again.” I am soooo jealous of countries where if you don’t boil the water first, plan to make many hasty bathroom runs. Why should we be deprived of such pleasures?
And to our children I say, “toughen up!” Constant exposure to many types of bacteria will only make them future stable geniuses, unlike the losers they’re now intending to become.
2
It appears that the administration hopes to erase everything Obama, signed, negotiated or legislated. The EPA is headed by Rick Perry, an intellectual lightweight. For some reason this group of climate change denialists will not be happy until more Love Canals and burning Cuyahoga rivers are commonplace.
1
@benton "not be happy until more Love Canals and burning Cuyahoga rivers are commonplace." I may agree with you, but...just how many readers do you think know or remember what you're referring to?
“Rollback of Clean Water Protections”. I’m speechless.
10
@Bob Hawthorne Yes, Bob, that's his idea. We're all supposed to be speechless.
I am scared to death by what I have witnessed over the past 2 months. It seems as if this administration is openly acting brazenly corrupt and brazenly un-American. They are deliberately taking action which everyone can see is the wrong thing, that is obviously motivated by greed and power-grabbing. The pace at which things are getting worse is horrifying. Who repeals a clean water bill, especially in light of Flint and New Jersey? Yes,I know they are not the same, but it looks terrible. Who wants to buy Greenland or have the Taliban over for a slumber party at Camp David? What is really going on here? And the more unhinged Trump's actions become, the more the GOP justify and normalize it so that I literally don't think I see the same reality as my Republican neighbors.
I don't see any way that Trump and the GOP can be held accountable now. I think it is past the point of no return. I hope that everyone who voted for Trump is enjoying this moment, because he has proven that he stand everyone in the back, and he will eventually turn on them, too.
2
Rule requirements in the Trump admin:
1. Roll-back if it doesn't personally affect Donald Trump.
2. Undo everything and anything associated with President Obama.
3. Pander to the donor base.
7
@David Cary Hart
You left out
4. Shoot the messenger !
@kenneth
That's pretty much covered in #2.
Who are these people with their careless regard for others? What possibly made them this way? Not caring for their own children or grandchildren?
2
@Marilyn Hazelton Oh, Marilyn, what are children and grandchildren compared to a brightly shining Golden Calf?
The amazing thing about this - like so many other Trump admin actions - is that there simply is no other explanation besides placing nihilistic greed over the health of our children and the earth they will inherit. Not being a person of any particular faith, I tend to shy away from words like "evil" - but I'm at a loss to find a substitute here.
Please vote.
5
This administration is insane.
They are intent on killing us.
They are destructive.
We need more protection, not less.
Two of my friends have been diagnosed with lymphatic cancers in the past couple of months. Others are already dead including my husband and several other dear friends. All are or were relatively young, from 40 to early 60's.
These are people who are/were smart, took care of their health, didn't smoke, were careful with their diets.
Our environment is full of toxic pollutants. The one element these dear people had in common was probable exposure to industrial toxins, several having grown up on the South Side of Chicago.
3
VOTE in 2020, and get your kids 18 to VOTE. I hear much despair from young adults who came of age in all of this.
Tell them to VOTE. If enough of them do, it WILL make a difference.
7
I think it is time to start suing the federal government and or corporations who dump or lie about clean water and air quality. Congress aka Mitch McConnell will do nothing to keep us safe. According to the Trump administration, how dare we expect clean water, clean air, safe food etc. He wants us to wallow in the lax, profit only, filthy world of corporate America. They need the money you know. The tax credit just didn't do it. Sue baby sue is my advice.
2
The algae blooms are only going to get worse.
This could be part of punishing anyone who doesn't support Trump, in other words, anyone who not support a corrupt racist autocrat. We have seen blue states with high property taxes get punished in the new tax code. California seems to get punished for any attempt to go against Trump. Attempt to reduce water pollution have been going on since the 1970s and with a lot of success. But now in effect we have a president who supports the polluters. Farms are a major source of pollution. It is runoff of nitrogen from farms that is causing large dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico and oceans. If Americans want cleaner water and cleaner air and a planet that is not heating up to the extent that human life will be impossible in many places where it now thrives they must not re-elect Trump.
3
folks, it's pointless to debate what Trump is about when he does these things. he's not playing with a full deck. full stop.
2
There is SO much to be reversed in 2020. The list grows and these corrections need to be the number one priority.
3
Simply put: A vote for Trump is a vote for contaminated and polluted water (among a number of other disasters).
But it can't get any more basic than intentionally deciding to increase the pollution in our air and water and thereby increase rather than decrease sickness, illness, and death, which results in skyrocketing health care costs and declining economic productivity.
Republican politicians need to come with a hazardous warning label stamped on their foreheads:
CAUTION: The Republican Party is DANGEROUS to our health
Party headquarters need to post signs:
The Republican Party: A Hazardous Waste Site
3
The crisis in Flint should have made it clear that we must protect our water as if our lives depend on it, because they do. The Flint disaster was the result of deteriorated lead pipes carrying the water, but the rollback of clean water protections would allow contaminated water to enter pipes from the source.
Unchecked pesticide and heavy metal pollution will inevitably wind up in our homes and on our tables. The cost in human health alone will far outweigh the benefits to anyone. Farmers, industrialists, developers—all have families and children who will suffer from drinking or even bathing in poisonous water, water that could impact our entire ecosystem.
Even if they are so greedy, thoughtless or just ignorant that they don't care about future generations, the toll on this generation could be devastating. Water sustains us. Ask the people of Flint what happens when clean water standards go down the drain.
8
Here are some scientifically-based facts about freshwater that I share with my college-level class in global resource management: Water contaminated by industrial waste, agricultural fertilizer, mining discharge, and improper human waste disposal contributes to 80% of the world’s water-borne diseases. Fertilizer runoff and other waste contaminants have created over 400 oxygen-deprived ‘dead zones’ in the world’s oceans, constituting 95,000 square miles of water. About 97.5% of all water on Earth is salty. The volume of freshwater on Earth today is about the same as it was in ancient Rome, But human population has grown in the interval from ~250 million to over 7.7 billion.
Globally, about 800 million humans today lack access to safe drinking water. Less than .001 percent of the water on Earth is fresh and annually renewed through the hydrological cycle. The United States is very fortunate: We have about 4.5% of the world’s population and about 7% of the worlds total renewable water supply.
Those are the facts. Sound, responsible environmental policy for freshwater management must rest on a thorough understanding of them, and a willingness to implement them on multiple levels - individual, local, state-wide, regional, national and global. David Wallace-Wells has expressed it very well, "You can choose your metaphor" (or scale, in my personal view). "You can't choose the planet, which is the only one any of us will ever call home."
14
As a consolation for crippling our farmers business Trump lets them pollute a bit more. He needs those votes back at the expense of the environment we live in.
4
87 laws written to protect the environment have been repelled by the Trump administration.
Not just about the water pollution .
The Trump administration is not only a grave danger to the USA but to the whole world .
The sky, the air, the water have no borders .
It would be a great idea that nations start law suits against the USA over pollution , CO 2 release and global warming.
May be it would start to educate and sensibilise Americans about ecology by reaching them where is their only interest : money.
7
This story is greatly exaggerated. Here's what went on.
The Obama rule was NOT an expansion of EPA authority or a more restrictive or protective rule. It merely codified EPA's longstanding policy on defining "waters of the us".
The business community (mostly corporate agribusiness) waged a propaganda war against the Obama rule and in response, the environmental groups, in defending the rule and ingratiating themselves with the Obama ministration, exaggerated the impact of the rule.
Trump's repeal is bad, but - because the Obama rule was no big deal - not nearly as bad as is being portrayed. Most chemical discharges to "waters of the US" are from EPA permitted point sources, which are not impacts by this rule, so that is a distortion as well.
@Bill Wolfe - not quite so, since a great deal of discharge is from things like farms and golf courses, which apply lots of chemicals (or produce lots of manure) and who are specifically excluded from being treated as point sources.
This is a big deal out here in the flat part of the country. Consider the application of various chemicals on, oh, a 2200 acre farm that's really flat. Fly over the flyover country and you'll note that the geometry of farm fields is invariably combined with dark patches and green squiggles. That's where water will pond on a field, or where water runs to somewhere else, when there's enough water to run.
Des Moines lost a case against four counties upstream of the river they pull drinking water from. They were suing because of the high cost of removing dangerously high levels of nitrogen compounds (fertilizer) from the water.
Farmers don't spray the stuff into the river directly, but as we're seeing the expected increasingly intense rainfall from warming, we're seeing increasing runoff of everything applied to fields - even increase of the fields themselves washing away.
So non-point sources HAVE TO be managed, and it will save their soil and save on chemical purchase if they learn to keep what's in the top inch or two of their land from running off of their property and causing harm to others downstream.
1
@b fagan - EPA never enforced non-point source pollution controls on agricultural operations or limited the amount of fertilizers or pesticides applied. Not even under the TMDL Load allocation limits. I wish they had. The photo accompanying the story is a tank farm, so that too is highly misleading. That Waters of the US rule merely defined federal jurisdiction - it did not impose controls over agricultural operations. It really impacted the wetlands and 404 programs. This is no big deal. I've spent a 35 year career in environmental management.
I think the Democratic Party leadership should announce their intention that if they gain control of the levers of government not only will they reinstitute the older more stringent regulations but they will publicize those businesses and individuals who chose to pollute during the time that Pres. Trump loosened the regulations. Ex Post Facto laws are unconstitutional but surely life can be made uncomfortable for those who choose quick profit at the expense of public health.
3
Some want to argue details, but the overall approach by this administration to environmental protections has been one big anti Obama action after another, In the name of Trump's ego, valuable protections have been removed, auto mpg requirements lowered even in light of auto maker cooperation with the new standards,
One small detail I noticed regarding environment was allowing lead buckshot in hunting again, despite clear evidence that it was destroying wildlife,
5
People, it's time to take a lesson in democracy from Hong Kong. Nothing is going to stop the insanity except massive and sustained demonstrations: People in the streets. Can talk and sign on-line petitions all we want but it's ineffective.
14
All you have to know to know this and who wants and benefits from this change is "the repeal of the water rule.... to be announced at the headquarters of the National Association of Manufacturers, "
If this is such a great and benign change it could be announced at the EPA offices, at a park, or next to a reservoir.
I challenge Trump supporters to come up with one of the "great things" that Trump has accomplished which wasn't designed to hurt people even while it enriched others. And that includes his so-called tax cut.
9
I start every day saying that I will not be outraged or saddened by these horrible people who no longer value the public health, safety and welfare over corporate profits. And everyday I fail. Thank goodness I'm old and do not have very long to reap the benefits of their greed. I am saddened for the younger generations who will.
11
This is payback to corporate agriculture. The family fam, which is fast disappearing, will be at best only marginally impacted. But Big Ag wants to avoid any and all costs imposed by federal regulation that affects their bottom line profitability. That’s why they lobby so relentlessly against environmental controls; in Trump, Big Ag has found its savior.
6
When I was a child the beautiful river in my home county was crystal clear. You could see right to the bottom. Now it is murky. This is from cattle and agricultural runoff. One of my life's wishes was that I would live long enough to see our river clear again. I can see now that will not happen.
16
I'm sorry but this is misleading. The action will, indeed, revoke the Obama definition of waters of the US (which already has been stayed by court order in 27 states). But that will simply mean that the law will revert to the pre-Obama definition, which is also protective and which also "places limits on polluting chemicals that could be used near streams, wetlands and water bodies."
5
1. The reversion is Bad.
2. Did you skip the part about how these clowns are revising the regulations altogether?
4
@Don
Disingenuous at best.
The last paragraphs explain the changes and resulting " chaotic case-by-case program to replace clear, bright-line rules.”
3
@Robert The reversion is to a definition of waters of the US that was on the books for many years. Were you outraged then? And yes most people who are paying attention know that a new definition is in the works. My point is that it is misleading to suggest that today's action is some sort of a dramatic change from heavy regulation to no regulation.
1
I’m not familiar with the chemical make up of most farmer’s chemicals but the pesticide Round Up was just found to cause cancer. We don’t want massive quantities of those types of chemicals seeping into our water supply, redistributed god knows where through the systems of underground aquifers.
Farmers aren’t “put in jail” by these regulations. They help reduce the likelihood the farmers will get cancer too.
We also don’t want fertilizers trickling into our lakes where they will cause toxic algae blooms and choke out the fish and wildlife.
Clean water is one of the most precious things ushered in by the 19th and 20th century. It is one of the top factors in why we live so much longer than we did 200-300 years ago. It’s what divides us from developing nations and the Middle Ages. We should do everything we can to protect clean water.
What happens if we destroy our water supply for short-term gains? It won’t be easy to get back.
12
If the Dems have any sense, they will make sure that in addition to describing the Trade War as an unnecessary and completely unfair Trump Tax, they can now describe the President as the Polluter-in-Chief. It is important to know that every single policy or program advocated by this administration serves very few private industrial interests at the expense of every other working American. We should all vote accordingly.
11
Instead of working on gun safety legislation, North Korea, Iran, Russian election interference and a host of other pressing issues, this is how this administration spends it's political capital. Making America's water sources available for any industry or utility available to pollute. Another sad day for the U.S. and our once improving environment.
17
Maybe commercial fishermen should take up arms and stop the polluters at the source. A little vigilante justice might be in order. It's unbelievable how far we have strayed from even pretending that we are a just and civilized society.
10
This, like most of Trump's environmental rollbacks, is the definition of the good of the few in exchange of the good of the many. Allowing large corporations to dump chemicals into the water that everyone has to drink? Of course the bigger concern is the impact on animals and flora. For some reason a man who has lived his entire life on the top of a highrise in a big city doesn't care much about that.
Just another example of Trump asking his rich friends and people running the GOP what he can do for them. He's really their servant as long as they let him run amok at the top of their party.
6
SO, Once again I ask, what has Trump done to improve the quality of American life? And what has he done to improve our environment? Anyone? Please dont mention the tax sceme for the rich. Thanks!
9
Farmers and chemical companies would be foolish to assume the blanket deregulation of our environment will survive the 2020 elections. They'd be smarter just to comply with current law on the reasonable assumption that this will be reinstated long term.
11
This sort of news is no longer "news" - we have come to expect that Trump will try to wreck the environment. What I want to know (editors, take note!) is what makes people vote for a person like Donald Trump. Why would anyone vote against clean water or any of the dozens of other actions he has taken against public health and well being? Are these voters simply ignorant?
I suspect that Trump voters do know what a mess he is making of the nation, and they are holding their collective nose when they vote for him. I suspect that in reality they are not voting FOR Donald Trump or Mitch McConnell or any of their ilk, but voting AGAINST the Democrats.
So the important question is "why do voters dislike Democrats enough to hurt their own health and well being by voting for Donald Trump?". Editors, let's do some investigative journalism here - this is what I want to read about!
6
And we thought DJT liked crystal clear water. Some states may enforce their own regulations but there are no hard borders to water flow. Where will the royals in the White House get the crystal clear water? Us peasants need to know.
3
Once again, the T administration is doing its wrong-headed best to destroy planet Earth.
9
We all live downstream.
22
No surprise here.
Poisoning a few hundred (or thousand) people vs. millions in campaign donations to the Republican party.
This is a calculus that the Republicans have been pursuing for decades, and apparently quite successfully.
More twisted values from the party of twisted values.
6