"Environmentalists have taken their first legal shot at the Trump administration’s repeal of a landmark Obama-era water regulation.

The National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, and nine other groups sued Oct. 23 in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, accusing the federal government of breaking the law in its rollback of the 2015 Clean Water Rule.

The Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers finalized their decision Oct. 22 to repeal the regulation—also known as the Waters of the United States, or WOTUS, rule—spelling out which wetlands and waterways are subject to federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act.

Environmental groups say that move was legally flawed, violating both the Administrative Procedure Act and the Constitution’s due process clause, which, the lawsuit says, “requires rulemakings to be undertaken with an open mind.”"

Ellen M. Gilmer reports for Bloomberg Environment October 23, 2019. [2]