A plan by the Trump administration to reinstate an older EPA regulation designed to protect upstream waterways could render moot legal challenges to a replacement rule issued in 2015, attorneys familiar with the agency’s plans said.
The Environmental Protection Agency told state and local groups recently that it wants to repeal the 2015 Clean Water Rule (RIN: 2040-AF30)—issued during the Obama administration and immediately challenged by a range of interest groups—and then issue a new rule.
This would have the effect of removing the Obama rule completely from the books. With no rule, the federal appellate and district courts, and ...