is rolling back a that protects small waterways like wetlands and creeks. One expert says the move could leave more Florida farmers and conservationists stuck in court battles.
Since 1972, the federal government has protected major water bodies like the Everglades and the Apalachicola River under the Clean Water Act. But it鈥檚 still not clear how far those protections extend into unnamed creeks and swamps that flow into larger bodies. The of 2015 is supposed to clarify that, says Florida State University environmental law professor Erin Ryan.
鈥淲hat this rule attempted to do was to impose some order and predictability that would allow these decisions to be made more uniformly," Ryan said. "And by preventing the rule from going forward, we鈥檙e kind of left where we were before. Which arguably is not better for either side.鈥�
Critics have hounded the Waters of the U.S. Rule ever since the Obama Administration first implemented it. And legal challenges stalled the policy shortly after the roll-out.
Ryan says the water regulation debate mirrors a broader disagreement about the role and scope of the federal government. But because water so stubbornly defies local and state boundaries, she says a nationwide regulatory structure is necessary.
"Especially in a state like Florida that has so much diffuse water, so much non-navigable but connected waters," Ryan said. "I gather that this rule puts a huge percentage of the acreage in Florida under jurisdiction. And that seems, I think, psychologically threatening as well as meaningfully impacting what you can and cannot do with your land."
But repealing the guidance means judges and regulators have to make decisions on a case by case basis.
鈥淣obody benefits from extended, protracted, unclear, murky litigation. It鈥檚 expensive. It鈥檚 time consuming. And it鈥檚 working to the effect of blocking regulations that might be of interest to property rights communities who have opposed to the rule. But it can also work against them when its environmentalists bringing the lawsuits.鈥�
In short, Ryan says, without the rule neither farmers nor conservationists are better off. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency now begins the long process of rewriting and replacing the rule.
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