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Obama Vetoes Effort To Halt Clean Water Act Changes

mcdarius, flickr Creative Commons

On Tuesday, President Obama vetoed a Congressional effort to halt changes to the Clean Water Act. As Harvest Public Media’s Luke Runyon reports many farm groups oppose the regulatory change.

The Obama Administration wants to alter a portion of the Clean Water Act to clarify the bodies of water that can be regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency. Some prominent farm groups worry the language is too vague and characterized the rule as an overreach by the EPA.

President Obama’s veto put a pause on legislative attempts to halt the rule’s implementation. But there’s still plenty of judicial wrangling. Twenty-seven states are taking part in a handful of ongoing lawsuits against the EPA.

The rule is on-hold while those lawsuits are working their way through the courts.

As KUNC’s reporter covering the Colorado River Basin, I dig into stories that show how water issues can both unite and divide communities throughout the Western U.S. I produce feature stories for KUNC and a network of public media stations in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, California and Nevada.