President Trump signs executive orders on water and support for HBCUs

NTD Staff
By NTD Staff
February 28, 2017News
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U.S. President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on February 28 ahead of his first address to a joint session of Congress.

One of the executive orders directs regulators to review an Obama administration rule which expanded the number of federally protected waterways. The new president is targeting environmental regulations conservatives label as government overreach.

“EPA’s (Environmental Protection Agency) Waters of the U.S. rule is one of the worst examples of federal regulation and has truly run amok. It is one of the rules strongly opposed by farmers, ranchers and agricultural worker all across our land. It’s prohibiting them from being allowed to do what they are supposed to be doing. It’s been a disaster.

“The Clean Water Act says that the EPA can regulate navigable waters, meaning waters that can truly affect interstate commerce. But a few years ago the EPA decided that navigable waters can mean nearly every puddle or every ditch on a farmer’s land or any other place that they decide. Right? It was a massive power grab. The EPA’s regulators were putting people out of jobs by the hundreds of thousands. And regulations and permits started treating our wonderful small farmers and small businesses as if they were major industrial polluters. They treated them horribly. Horribly.

“If you want to build a home for example you have to worry about getting hit with a huge fine if you fill in as much as a puddle, a puddle on your lot. I’ve seen it. In fact when it was first shown to me I said, ‘No, you’re kidding, aren’t you?’ But they weren’t kidding. In one case in Wyoming a rancher was fined 37,000 dollars a day by the EPA for digging a small watering hole for his cattle. His land. These abuses were and are why such incredible opposition to the rule from the hundreds of organizations took place in all of the 50 states.

“It’s a horrible, horrible rule. It has sort of a nice name but everything else is bad. I’ve been hearing about it for years and years. I didn’t know I would necessarily be in this position to do something about it, but we’ve been hearing about it for years. With today’s action I’m directing the EPA to take action paving the way for the elimination of this very destructive and horrible rule. So I want to thank everyone for being here and I will sign where I am supposed to sign. Thank you very much.”—President Trump said.

Trump’s executive order directs the Justice Department to ask a federal court to put legal challenges to the rule on hold as the administration conducts its review, a senior official said.

The order, which the White House did not immediately make public, will kick off what will likely be a lengthy process to undo the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2015 to clarify which bodies of water are covered by the Clean Water Act.

Trump also signed an executive order meant to bolster Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The measure moves an initiative to assist HBCUs from the Department of Education to the White House, according to the reports.

(Reuters)

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