The Biden administration on Dec. 30 finalized Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations that expand protections for rivers, lakes, streams, wetlands, and waterways while simultaneously repealing a Trump-era rule on the matter.
The EPA said the revised rule (pdf)—which clarifies the types of bodies of water protected by the federal government under the Clean Water Act—is based on definitions that were in place before 2015, when the Obama administration took a similar approach seeking to expand federal protections.
Former President Donald Trump’s administration later narrowed the definitions, a move that was praised by builders, oil and gas developers, farmers, and others who complained about federal overreach and raised concerns that the federal government would regulate ravines and creeks on private property….