New Mexico Judge Follows Arizona, Tosses Trump Water Rule

A New Mexico federal judge tossed a Trump administration rule that limited protections for certain bodies of water in a repeat of an Arizona judge’s August decision.

The U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico’s ruling Monday came as a win for the Navajo Nation, which argued leaving the Navigable Waters Protection Rule in place risks “serious environmental harm.”

The rule removed federal protections for certain wetlands, streams, and other bodies of water. In New Mexico and Arizona, nearly every one of the 1,500 streams assessed under the NWPR were declared a “non-jurisdictional ephemeral resource,” the court said. ...