12-11-2018, 08:16 PM
Rep. Peter DeFazio, who's expected to chair the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee told reporters he planned on holding "extensive oversight hearings and exposing how this would harm the majority of the people and interests in this country to favor a few polluting entities and a few rapacious developers."
Sen. Ben Cardin, a longtime advocate for cleaning up the streams and rivers that feed the Cheseapeake Bay, said the effects of the weakened regulation would be far reaching. “They put politics over public health. The public has a right to expect safe drinking water," he said. "This proposed rule puts that in jeopardy. It puts our economy in jeopardy, from tourism to agriculture, the economy so much depends upon clean water.”
In the arid West, where the majority of streams flow only after rainfall or for part of the year, entire watersheds would be left unprotected from pollution. In Arizona, for instance, as much as 94 percent of its waters could lose federal protection under the new definition, depending on the how the agencies interpret key terms. Meanwhile, Arizona state law also prevents it from regulating waterways more stringently than the federal government requires.
Full story: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/1...ns-1022227
Sen. Ben Cardin, a longtime advocate for cleaning up the streams and rivers that feed the Cheseapeake Bay, said the effects of the weakened regulation would be far reaching. “They put politics over public health. The public has a right to expect safe drinking water," he said. "This proposed rule puts that in jeopardy. It puts our economy in jeopardy, from tourism to agriculture, the economy so much depends upon clean water.”
In the arid West, where the majority of streams flow only after rainfall or for part of the year, entire watersheds would be left unprotected from pollution. In Arizona, for instance, as much as 94 percent of its waters could lose federal protection under the new definition, depending on the how the agencies interpret key terms. Meanwhile, Arizona state law also prevents it from regulating waterways more stringently than the federal government requires.
Full story: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/1...ns-1022227