A new proposed federal rule from the Trump Administration revives a long-standing effort to deregulate pollution and allow for wetland destruction, threatening waters across the country.
The federal Clean Water Act is a powerful law that has protected waterways since 1972, dramatically improving water quality across the nation, and providing for the protection of wetlands and streams that are crucial to downstream waters. This law came about at a time when sewage and oil pollution went unchecked, some rivers literally caught fire from pollution, and irreparably altering a waterway was not a hard thing to do. Fortunately, that all changed with the Clean Water Act, and for more than 50 years our waterways have enjoyed strong federal protections.
Now, the Trump Administration and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin are poised to do the unthinkable— simply remove entire waterways from coverage under the Clean Water Act, in a giveaway to polluters. Though messaged as primarily targeting upstream waterways (wetlands and streams), this rule goes much further—creating loopholes and exemptions, while ignoring the EPA’s own science showing the importance of protecting headwaters, especially when science demonstrates a clear connection to larger waterways.
The issue is termed “Waters of the US”, or WOTUS, and by redefining the scope of the Clean Water Act, waters across the country would be stripped of protection. The draft rule would significantly limit which waters are covered under the Clean Water Act, making it much easier to pollute, fill and/or drain sensitive waterways in Washington State and across the country.
The only good news about this rule is that it’s still a draft. And that is only because rulemaking procedures require agencies to publish a draft and to seek public comments before finalizing it into a regulation.
The deadline for comments is January 5, 2026, and this may be our LAST CHANCE to do so before protections are removed.
Your comments will matter because they will give extra strength to groups that will oppose any adoption of a final rule in court if the EPA fails to do what is needed to protect our waters.
