Document vVadoLq0YGGy8R0vGRgq6xJO8

Message From: Sent: To: Subject: Bangerter, Layne [/0=EXCHANGELABS/OU=EXCHANGE ADMINISTRATIVE GROUP (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)/CN=RECI PI ENTS/CN=EB60FA9F470B4CB3802A892F1DA68B25-BANG ERTER,] 5/31/2017 7:08:11 PM Sweeney, Katie [KSweeney@nma.org] FW: E&E News: White House continues meetings on proposed WOTUS rollback, 5/31/17 FYI. Layne From: McGonagle, Kevin Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2017 1:34 PM To: AO OPA OMR CLIPS <AO_OPA_OMR_CLIPS@epa.gov> Subject: E&E News: White House continues meetings on proposed WOTUS rollback, 5/31/17 E&E News https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/05/31/stories/1060055348 White House continues meetings on proposed WOTUS rollback By Ariel Wittenberg 5/31/17 Groups opposing the Obama administration's Clean Water Rule will meet with White House officials in June about the Trump administration's plan to repeal the controversial regulation. The American Farm Bureau Federation and National Mining Association have meetings scheduled with the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs next week. OIRA is currently reviewing a proposal from U.S. EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers to rescind the Obama-era regulation that clarifies the reach of the Clean Water Act over small waterways and wetlands. Both groups are members of the Waters Advocacy Coalition, an organization of more than 60 industry groups that seeks to limit federal water regulations, including the 2015 rule. "We will be supporting our position to rescind the Obama-era rule," said NMA spokesman Luke Popovich in an email about the meeting. The Clean Water Rule, also known as the Waters of the U.S., or WOTUS, rule, has drawn fire from farmers, land developers and energy companies who say it amounts to government overreach. Though WOTUS has been stayed by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Trump administration has made repealing and replacing the regulation a priority. Environmental groups, however, have celebrated the regulation as providing critical protection to smaller waterways, which in turn protects larger ones. OIRA met with some WOTUS advocates in May, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments (Greenwire, May 15). The office also has meetings scheduled with WOTUS proponents Clean Water Network and PolicyLink in June. Sierra Club v. EPA 18cv3472 NDCA Tier 2 ED 002061 00036019-00001 Text of the proposed regulation being reviewed by OIRA has not been released. But EPA and Army Corps officials have said they will revert to a 1986 regulation and 2008 guidance to define "waters of the United States" covered by the Clean Water Act while the agencies work on a new definition for the Trump administration. Clean Water Network spokeswoman Kimberly Williams said advocates from the Delaware River Basin will accompany her group to its OIRA meeting. While Williams said she is not sure what impact the environmental organization will have on the proposed regulation, she said watershed groups have to make their voices heard on the importance of small waterways and wetlands "at every step of the way." "Whether or not we will see a turn of events after these meetings, I think that sharing those stories at every opportunity is critical," she said. Kevin McGonagle Office of Media Relations Intern U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Telephone: (202)-564-4524 n1cgon3gie.kevin@ep3.gov Sierra Club v. EPA 18cv3472 NDCA Tier 2 ED 002061 00036019-00002