The Environmental Protection Agency issued a proposal Tuesday that would take apart the Clean Water Rule, a 2015 update to an act that was designed to clean up polluted federal waterways.
Shortly into President Donald Trump's presidency, he issued an order to end the rule, and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's 42-page plan would do that, according to HuffPost.
The Waters of the United States rule extended federal authority to smaller bodies of water, but farmers and developers said it infringed on their property rights, according to The New York Times.
Pruitt tweeted the action will return power to states.
"This proposal strikes directly at public health . . . it would strip out needed protections for the streams that feed drinking water sources for one in every three Americans. Clean water is too important for that," said Rhea Suh, Natural Resources Defense Council president, HuffPost reported.
The Center for Biological Diversity's executive director, Kieran Suckling, also slammed the move. Pruitt is "smashing everything he touches in the EPA," Suckling tweeted.
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