Newspaper Page Text
8A Wednesday, December 12, 2018
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
WASHINGTON/POLITICS
Trump proposes major
rollback of water rules
CUFF OWEN I Associated Press
Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, seated left,
signs an order withdrawing federal protections for countless
waterways and wetlands, as Assistant Secretary of the Army
for Civil Works Rickey “RD” James, seated right, looks on, at
EPA headquarters in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 11. Looking
on behind are Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat
Ross, R-Kansas, left, and Secretary of the Interior Ryan
Zinke, second from right.
BY ELLEN KNICKMEYER
AND JOHN FLESHER
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Cabi
net chiefs and GOP lawmak
ers celebrated alongside
farm and business lead
ers Tuesday as the Trump
administration made good
on one of its biggest promised
environmental rollbacks,
proposing to remove federal
protections for thousands of
waterways nationwide.
Environmental groups
called the proposed overhaul
of federal water protections
one of the gravest assaults
ever on the aims of the 1972
Clean Water Act, the founda
tional U.S. water protection
law. Administration support
ers praised President Donald
Trump for knocking back
what they said was federal
overreach.
The Obama-era water
protections targeted for
replacement by Tuesday’s
regulatory overhaul “was
never about clean water,”
Rep. Sam Graves, a Repub
lican and farmer from Mis
souri, and one of about a
dozen GOP Congress mem
bers at Tuesday’s launch at
headquarters of the Environ
mental Protection Agency.
“It was always about the
federal government getting
more control over our water
and our lives.”
“I want to thank him
for keeping that promise,”
Graves declared of Trump.
“Thank you, Mr. President,
for giving us the Christmas
present of a lifetime,” the
president of the American
Farm Bureau Federation,
Zippy Duvall of Georgia, said.
Environmental groups
said the Trump administra
tion proposal would have
a sweeping impact on how
the country safeguards the
nation’s waterways, scaling
back not just a 2015 Obama
administration interpretation
of federal jurisdiction, but
how federal agencies enforce
the 1972 Clean Water Act.
“The Trump adminis
tration has just given a big
Christmas gift to polluters,”
said Bob Irvin, president of
the American Rivers envi
ronmental nonprofit. “Amer
icans all over the country are
concerned about the safety of
their drinking water — this is
not the time to be rolling back
protections.”
The Trump administra
tion would remove federal
protections for wetlands
nationally unless they are
connected to another feder
ally protected waterway, and
for streams, creeks, washes,
ditches and ponds that exist
only during rains.
Interior Secretary Ryan
Zinke, also attending the
ceremony for the regulatory
changes, told the farmers
and others attending the pro
posal “doesn’t remove any
protection.”
“It puts the decision back
where it should be, the peo
ple that work the land, that
hunt, that own the land,”
Zinke said.
Industry groups in praised
the latest Trump administra
tion environmental regula
tory rollback.
“When you have uncer
tainty and overreach it
makes it incredibly difficult
to build American homes,”
Gerald Howard, the CEO
of the National Association
of Home Builders, said of
the Obama administration’s
interpretation of the water
rules.
Environmental groups say
the kind of isolated wetlands,
rain-fed streams and often
dry washes that would lose
federal protections also help
buffer communities from the
worsening impact of drought,
floods and hurricanes under
climate change, and are vital
for wildlife.
Jan Goldman-Carter of the
National Wildlife Federation
said the move would leave
waterways more vulnerable
to destruction by developers
and farmers or to oil spills,
fertilizer runoff and other
pollutants. Andrew Wheeler,
acting administrator of the
EPA, said there was no firm
data on what percentage
of waterways would lose
protections.
In Michigan, where a
dispute over a commercial
development produced a
2006 U.S. Supreme Court
ruling that failed to resolve
the dispute over federal
jurisdiction, outdoor sports
man Dave Smethurst said
he feared the proposed revi
sions would harm his beloved
trout streams and wetlands
that host ducks and other
waterfowl.
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Facing pressure, McConnell
agrees to criminal justice vote
BY MARY CLAREJALONICK
AND KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press
WASHINGTON —
Under pressure from Pres
ident Donald Trump and
many of his Republican
colleagues, Senate Major
ity Leader Mitch McCon
nell said Tuesday that he
will bring legislation to
the floor to overhaul the
nation’s sentencing laws.
McConnell’s decision
comes after more than
three years of overtures
from a large, bipartisan
group of senators who sup
port the criminal justice
bill, including Senate Judi
ciary Committee Chair
man Chuck Grassley and
House Speaker Paul Ryan.
Trump announced his
support for the legislation
last month, but McConnell
treaded cautiously, as a
handful of members in his
caucus voiced concerns
that it would be too soft on
violent criminals.
Texas Sen. John Cornyn,
the No. 2 Republican, said
Trump’s push for the legis
lation had been “critical to
the outcome.”
“Senator McConnell was
always concerned about
the small window of time
that we have to do all these
things we need to do, but
the president was insistent
that this be included,” he
said.
If the legislation passes,
it could be a rare biparti
san policy achievement
for this Congress and the
largest sentencing over
haul in decades. AshLee
Strong, a spokeswoman
for Ryan, said “the House
stands ready to act on
the revised Senate crimi
nal justice reform bill.”
Ryan has long supported
sentencing reform and is
retiring at the end of the
session.
Most Democrats sup
port the bill, which would
revise 1980s and ’90s-era
“tough on crime” laws to
boost rehabilitation efforts
for federal prisoners and
give judges more discre
tion when sentencing non
violent offenders.
It would attempt to focus
the toughest sentences on
the most violent offend
ers, lowering mandatory
minimum sentences for
some nonviolent drug
offenses and reducing the
life sentence for some
drug offenders with three
convictions, or “three
strikes,” to 25 years.
Supporters say the
changes would make the
nation’s criminal justice
system fairer, reduce
overcrowding in federal
prisons and save taxpayer
dollars.
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