Trump move to repeal Obama water pollution rule draws praise, criticism.
NASHVILLE — The Trump administration’s move to rescind a controversial Obama-era water pollution regulation is drawing praise from area federal lawmakers as a victory for common sense and local control but brickbats from environmental groups as a "gift" to polluters.
"I’ve been fighting this regulation since it was announced because it gave the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers the ability to regulate nearly all the water in the country," Alexander said.
"I’m glad President Trump and his administration are taking the next step toward stopping it."
Georgia’s Republican U.S. senators, Johnny Isakson and David Perdue, also welcomed the repeal.
Isakson called it "great news for Georgia’s farmers and our entire agriculture industry" and added, "Federal government bureaucrats should not have the ability to control our streams, creeks, wetlands, ponds and ditches."
U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., who represents one of Tennessee’s most rural congressional districts, said the rule threatened private property rights, state law and the state’s agriculture industry.
"EPA’s proposal to rescind the Clean Water Rule calls into question basic protections for many streams and wetlands and jeopardizes clean water for all Americans, and nowhere is that threat greater to the health and wellbeing of our communities than in the South," Derb Carter, director of the SELC’s North Carolina offices, said in a statement.
The group said 57 percent of the stream miles ultimately flow into public drinking water systems for 3.5 million people.
According to SELC, Georgia’s threatened waters include small creeks in the northern mountains, cypress domes in the Coastal Plain and over half the stream miles in the Piedmont that supply water to public drinking water systems for 4.9 million people.