Overnight Energy — Sponsored by the National Biodiesel Board — Trump moves to ease Obama water rule | EPA document contradicts agency over water rule data | Manchin to be top Dem on Senate Energy panel

2018年12月11日星期二

Overnight Energy — Sponsored by the National Biodiesel Board — Trump moves to ease Obama water rule | EPA document contradicts agency over water rule data | Manchin to be top Dem on Senate Energy panel

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TRUMP MOVES TO RELAX OBAMA-ERA WATER PROTECTIONS: The Trump administration on Tuesday proposed reduced federal protections for many small waterways such as streams and wetlands, opening them up to potential new harm from developers, energy companies and others.

The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposal would redefine the "Waters of the United States," a legal term for which waterways are protected from harm and pollution by the federal government under the Clean Water Act.

The change is a major victory for developers, energy companies and other industries that emit water pollutants and use land. They had complained that under the 2015 rule created by the Obama administration, large swaths of often dry land required permits for routine activities.

The announcement came days after the EPA set out plans to roll back carbon dioxide limits for new coal-fired power plants. In recent months, the agency has moved to repeal or weaken regulations on auto efficiency, power plant emissions, methane pollution and other major rules, mainly from the Obama administration.

EPA's new plan is already setting off alarm bells from environmentalists, who say it could present a grave threat to drinking water, wildlife and ecosystems.

It's also guaranteed to kick off numerous aggressive lawsuits once the EPA makes the changes final.

The Obama-era rule is only currently in effect in about half of the country's states, due to lawsuits challenging it.

From the administration: Trump officials said that the new rule would make it easier and simpler for farmers, landowners, developers, states and others to tell if a water body is federally protected.

Streamlining that determination is important to industries because certain activities that could pollute water, like filling ditches or moving ponds, might require an expensive federal permit.

EPA leaders are promoting the rule change as a means to give states more authority to regulate water pollution.

"Our proposal would replace the 2015 definition with one that respects the rule of law and the primary role of states in managing their land and water resources. It would end years of uncertainty over where federal jurisdiction begins and ends," acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said at an event at agency headquarters with dozens of industry officials and Republican lawmakers.

"Our new, more precise definition means that hard-working Americans will spend less time and money determining whether they need a federal permit and more time upgrading aging infrastructure, building homes, creating jobs and growing crops to feed our families," he said.

The numbers: The EPA estimated that the new rule would avoid as much as $164 million in industry compliance costs annually. But it would lose up to $38 million from the Obama rule's benefits, since some water bodies like wetlands or ponds could be harmed.

Under the Trump administration's proposed definition, certain small streams that are tributaries of larger water bodies will no longer be protected, nor will wetlands that aren't directly connected to otherwise protected waters such as rivers.

Streambeds that only have water when it rains also won't be subject to federal protection.

We've got the details here.

And in other WOTUS news….

INTERNAL EPA DOCUMENT CONTRADICTS AGENCY ON WATER DATA: An internal EPA document is contradicting agency officials who said Tuesday that there is no data on how many waterways will lose protections under the administration's latest rule rollback.

The document, released through a Freedom of Information Act request to E&E News Tuesday, shows that officials in 2017 estimated that 13 percent of streams and 51 percent of wetlands across the U.S. would lose protections under EPA's latest rollback, announced today.

When announcing the details of the proposal to reporters at EPA headquarters in Washington, D.C., agency officials said the data on how many waterways would lose environmental protections didn't exist.

"Nobody has, in the history of the agency, a detailed mapping of all the wetlands in the country," said Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler.

"The numbers that have been thrown around over the last 24 hours, 60 percent, 80 percent, are not accurate."

Breaking down the controversy: EPA's Office of Water chief Dave Ross explicitly told reporters the data didn't exist, despite environmentalists' estimations to the contrary.

"No one has that data," he said. "If you see percentages of water features that claim to be in and reductions, there really isn't the data to support those statistics,"

An EPA spokesperson said officials ultimately decided the data discussed in the 2017 slideshow was not accurate enough to include in the final report.

"After a thorough review of the data and information available on the nation's waters, including the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD), the agencies determined that the datasets are not robust enough to accurately or precisely depict federally regulated waters. So the statement that Assistant Administrator Ross' made is accurate."