EPA preps Trump-era plan to push wetlands permitting to states
EPA is moving forward with plans to clarify how states can take control of federally administered wetlands permitting, in a move that opponents worry will empower deregulation enthusiasts. At least two Republican-led states, Alaska and Nebraska, and one led by a Democrat, Minnesota, are on a quest to oversee a dredge-and-fill permitting program that influences construction projects with implications for federally protected waters. Their push coincides with EPA’s plans to advance a Trump-era rule revising Clean Water Act requirements around that program, with the agency intending to issue a proposal by September. EPA is currently having discussions with the trio of states about the possibility of shifting primacy over the permitting program, the agency confirmed to E&E News.