Dear Administrator Pruitt:
On behalf of our millions of supporters, we write to provide our perspective on your avowed intention to eliminate the important federal safeguards included in the 2015 Clean Water Rule — a process initiated when President Trump signed Executive Order 13,778 on February 28. We seek your commitment to carry out any such rulemaking in a way that is at least as deliberate, inclusive, and protective of vital waterways as the Clean Water Rule process was and that is based in sound science.
In contrast to the extensive and inclusive process that led to the Clean Water Rule, the administration reportedly plans a hasty rulemaking without meaningful public participation. We are dismayed by reports that the agency intends to provide very little time for stakeholder engagement before proposing to undermine the Clean Water Rule’s protections and for official public comment on the proposal. And we especially fear the damage that a final rule would inflict on the nation’s waterways if, as Executive Order 13,778 forecasts, it relies on a legal test that a majority of the justices on the Supreme Court rejected and that would weaken the federal rules so that they protect fewer resources than they have in several decades.
Recent Comments