Groups Plan to Sue Over Federal Change That Guts Protections for Arizona Waters

[Judi Lynn]

The vast majority of Arizona streams and waterways would lose Clean Water Act protections under the Trump administration's revision of Waters of the United States.Elizabeth Whitman

ELIZABETH WHITMAN | FEBRUARY 19, 2020 | 12:22PM

More than a dozen conservation groups, including the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity, announced plans Tuesday to sue the Trump administration over its rollback of a federal rule aimed at protecting rivers and streams across the United States.

In Arizona, curbing that rule, Waters of the United States, eliminates protections for more than 90 percent of waterways — 120,000 miles of intermittent and ephemeral streams, wetlands, and other smaller bodies of water that feed larger ones — under the Clean Water Act, signed in 1972 by President Richard Nixon.

In their formal notice of intent to sue, the groups alleged specifically that the Environmental Protection Agency, which issued the new rule along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is violating the Endangered Species Act.

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The Trump administration, which so far has rolled back close to 100 environmental rules, claims that the narrower definition "eliminates federal overreach," reduces confusing and burdensome regulations, and will be a boon to business.

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https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/groups-plan-to-sue-over-rollback-of-federal-water-protections-11445642