The Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, also known as the Clean Water Rule, has been in the crosshairs of Trump and his fossil fuel-adjacent cabinet members basically from the moment he took office. Passed by President Obama in 2015, the ruling set out to make clear what streams, rivers, and wetlands fall under federal jurisdiction and are therefore protected by federal regulations. The rule probably should not have been a controversial one: Politico described it as a “largely technical document” and its primary goal was to clear up much of the vagueness that was present in existing laws that did not explicitly state which waterways have federal protection and just how far upstream those protections go. With the clarity provided by the WOTUS rule, everyone from factory operators to farmers would have a much better idea of what protections are extended to a given waterway and how they would be able to interact with it. Continue reading.