Trump orders EPA to review WOTUS

By |  February 28, 2017 0 Comments

On Tuesday afternoon President Donald Trump took action to keep Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) from ever becoming a reality.

On Feb. 28, President Trump issued an executive order directing the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers to review the Clean Water Rule, and publish for notice a rule that either revises the pending Clean Water Rule or replaces it entirely.

WOTUS, if it were to go into effect, would change the way superintendents do their jobs by creating new categories for what areas are considered a body of water. The GCSAA opposes the rule, as it would complicate and possibly even outlaw such regular maintenance practices as applying chemicals or performing aerification in areas that traditionally have not been restricted.

WOTUS was a topic Golfdom featured on its cover in November 2015. Kevin Hicks, superintendent at Coeur d’Alene (Idaho) Resort Golf Course derided the rule, telling the magazine, “The way (WOTUS) reads, the definitions are so loose, it sounds like if you have a puddle in the middle of a fairway, that’s theirs now. Which is preposterous… but that’s the way it reads.”

In the Golfdom TV video below, watch as Kerry McGrath, an attorney with Hunton & Williams LLP, discusses her thoughts on the future of Waters of the U.S.

This is posted in Industry News

About the Author: Seth Jones

Seth Jones, a 25-year veteran of the golf industry media, is Editor-in-Chief of Golfdom magazine and Athletic Turf. A graduate of the University of Kansas School of Journalism and Mass Communications, Jones began working for Golf Course Management in 1999 as an intern. In his professional career he has won numerous awards, including a Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) first place general feature writing award for his profile of World Golf Hall of Famer Greg Norman and a TOCA first place photography award for his work covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In his career, Jones has accumulated an impressive list of interviews, including such names as George H.W. Bush, Samuel L. Jackson, Lance Armstrong and Charles Barkley. Jones has also done in-depth interviews with such golfing luminaries as Norman, Gary Player, Nick Price and Lorena Ochoa, to name only a few. Jones is a member of both the Golf Writers Association of America and the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association. Jones can be reached at sjones@northcoastmedia.net.


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