NRDC, Partners Oppose Destruction of Clean Water Rule

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the National Wildlife Federation asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a Trump administration effort to indefinitely delay the implementation of the Clean Water Rule while it moves to kill the rule. The groups were joined in this effort by the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League and One Hundred Miles, represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center.

The administration’s bid, if successful, would enable it to prevent the rule’s safeguards from taking effect for the foreseeable future. Such a delay would effectively enable the administration’s plan to undo the rule’s protections.

“The Trump administration is trying to avoid having to explain itself in court," said Jon Devine, senior attorney for the water program at NRDC. “The [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency] and the [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers] can’t support their current plan with science. Instead, the administration wants to stall a court decision as long as possible, while it works to protect polluters. Rolling back the rule’s safeguards endangers critical bodies of water, including the streams that feed the drinking water supplies of more than 117 million Americans.”

“The Clean Water Rule deserves to be reviewed by an independent court on the basis of law and science,” said Jan Goldman-Carter, NWF’s water resources counsel. “This is a rule developed over many years, based on robust scientific analysis and more than one million public comments.”

The parties’ brief is available here.

Source: Natural Resources Defense Council