--- title: Donald Trump: Executive Order Targets Clean Water Rule description: President Donald Trump on Tuesday issued an executive order directing a review of a rule designed to protect the country's waterways canonical: https://time.com/4685522/donald-trump-epa-water-rule/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-28T20:04:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:34:34.944Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump: Executive Order Targets Clean Water Rule og:description: The order aims to gut a signature Obama environmental initiative og:url: https://time.com/4685522/donald-trump-epa-water-rule/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump: Executive Order Targets Clean Water Rule twitter:description: The order aims to gut a signature Obama environmental initiative twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # What President Trump’s New Order Means for Clean Water > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, twice weekly), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=de8da945-d4ee-4f9a-9e84-0d095846aed6&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: How Would a Border Wall Affect the Environment? [Watch (HLS stream): How Would a Border Wall Affect the Environment?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8QwmIoEW.m3u8) (1:33)  _Published 2017-02-27. President Donald Trump's plan to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico has been greeted with cheers from his supporters but conservationists say it poses a threat to the local environment and ecosystems._  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Feb 28, 2017 8:04 PM UTC  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Feb 28, 2017 8:04 PM UTC President Donald Trump on Tuesday issued an executive order targeting a rule expanding federal oversight of the country’s waterways, the latest in a string of actions targeting Obama-era environmental regulations. Trump’s executive order fulfills a campaign promise to undo the 2015 Waters of the U.S. rule, but does not immediately eliminate the measure. Instead, Trump directed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers to “review and reconsider” the rule. That process may take multiple years and touch off a legal fight that could last even longer. The Waters of the U.S. [rule ](https://www.epa.gov/cleanwaterrule) allows the federal government to regulate pollution in a vast number of rivers, streams, lakes and other waterways that flow into the nation’s major bodies of water. Opponents of the measure, which include agricultural interests, energy companies and many Congressional Republicans, say it threatens economic growth and grants the federal government too much authority. Shortly before signing the order, Trump called the rule “one of the worst examples of federal regulation,” and claimed that “the EPA’s regulators are putting people out of jobs by the hundreds of thousands.” Environmental groups criticized the order as a threat to clean drinking water. “The rule protects the drinking water of 1 in 3 people living in this country, including those who voted for President Trump,” said League of Conservation Voters Legislative Representative Madeleine Foote in a [statement](https://www.lcv.org/article/lcv-statement-possible-trump-eo-clean-water-rule/). “Dismantling these clean water protections will put safe drinking water at risk.” In the executive order, Trump instructs the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers to rely on a 2006 opinion from Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia for guidance on how to determine which waterways fall under the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act, the legislation under which the waters of the U.S. rule was issued, according to an Axios [report](https://www.axios.com/white-house-begins-unwinding-epas-clean-water-rule-2289376246.html). The move is Trump’s latest attempt to change the federal government’s approach to energy and the environment. In his first weeks, he moved to revive the Keystone XL pipeline and expedite construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline using an executive order. He has also reversed environmental regulations, including a rule preventing miners from dumping waste into streams, using resolutions passed under the Congressional Review Act. Tuesday marked the first time Trump has used an executive order to target a rule that has already taken effect, which sets off its own complicated review process. He is also expected to target the [Clean Power Plan](http://time.com/3981535/white-house-clean-power-plan/), Obama’s chief measure for fighting climate change, with a similar executive order in the coming days. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] My name is Sergio Avila I am a conservation research scientist at the Arizona- Sonora Desert Museum. There are different types of impacts to the environment if we think about barriers. If we block the movement, the natural movements of wildlife populations in any direction, we might be blocking those populations from moving to places where they can withstand the changing of the climate. There is also the longer term effect of blocking populations of plants and animals that eventually become separated genetically and, though this is very long term, creating a separation there is like a barrier to their reproduction. The infrastructure that is proposed along the border, is not only a while, we're talking about roads, patrols along those roads and helicopters and high- powered lights. And all of these different cases, destroy the habitat Other long term effects could be the destruction of so much habitat that then we lose complete populations of wildlife. This is a unique place for diversity of life in the world. If you don't see political lines Nature has no borders. Ultimately, the impacts to the environment are the most serious consequence of this infrastructure. 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