The U.S. Supreme Court has denied the Trump administration’s request to pause implementation of an Obama-era rule regulating the country’s waterways.
The White House wanted the Supreme Court to put the Environmental Protection Agency’s water rule on hold while the case plays out, so the administration could review and potentially repeal the regulation. The court did not give an explanation for its decision to deny the request Monday.
President Donald Trump ordered the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to review the “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) regulation in February. The president argued at the time the EPA can make sure “waters are kept free from pollution,” while also “promoting economic growth and minimizing regulatory uncertainty.”
The Trump administration directed federal officials to interpret the rules based on a 2016 Justice Antonin Scalia ruling. The late justice said a “hydrological connection” is not a wetland under the Clean Water Act, since it must have a “continuous surface connection” with a “water of the United States” so it is “difficult to determine where the ‘water’ ends and the ‘wetland’ begins.”
Critics argue the regulation, which was passed during the tail end of former President Barack Obama’s final term, expands EPA jurisdiction over waterways as small as watering holes and ditches, making it more difficult for developers and energy companies to conduct business.
Trump has also asked the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to stay the Clean Power Plan, another Obama passed climate rule meant to dramatically reducing the country’s greenhouse gasses. The president has issued a pair of executive memos seeking to eliminate the bulk of the Obama administration’s climate rules.
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