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NY AG sues EPA over clean water rule

New York state Attorney General Letitia James

In her continued fight for environmental safety, New York State Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit Friday against the Trump administration for rolling back the Clean Water Act.

Under Trump, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized a “recodification rule” in October that repealed the Clean Water Rule, a regulation issued during the Obama administration that protected lakes, rivers, streams and wetlands. The Recodification Rule changed the Clean Water Rule’s definition of waters to be protected to exclude smaller or less-flowing water such as headwater streams, tributaries and wetlands.

“This regressive rule ignores science and the law and strips our waters of basic protections under the Clean Water Act,” James said. “Attorneys general across this nation will not stand by as the Trump administration seeks to reverse decades of progress we’ve made in fighting water pollution.”

James’ suit targets the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, claiming their replacement of the original definition of protected waters “is arbitrary and capricious” and a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. James was joined by attorneys general in 13 other states, the District of Columbia and the Corporation Counsel for the City of New York in her challenge to the Trump administration.

The Obama-era Clean Water Rule was informed by more than 1,000 peer-reviewed studies that found that because of their connection to larger bodies of water, wetlands and other smaller streams that have less flow are subject to physical, chemical and biological pollution, which can harm rivers, lakes and oceans.

Because of this phenomenon, states are often subject to water pollution that was generated in upstream sources in neighboring states.

When the Trump administration tried to issue a regulation to suspend the Clean Water Rule for two years, James successfully challenged the move in court.

James is continuing her office’s legacy of taking the most legal action against the Trump administration over environmental concerns, according to a recent study published by the New York University School of Law’s State Energy and Environmental Impact Center.

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