OLYMPIA, Wash. — Editor's note: The attached video originally aired in December 2018 when the EPA proposed a rollback of federal water protections.
Washington state has filed a lawsuit challenging the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to revise Washington's water quality standards.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed the suit Thursday, saying the revisions violate the Clean Water Act and that Trump's EPA cannot change water quality protections at the whim of industry interests.
The water quality standards apply specifically to Washington and are used to determine how clean Washington's waters must be to protect human health. The state in 2016 proposed updates which were approved by the Environmental Protection Agency during the Obama administration.
An industry group including paper companies and the Washington Farm Bureau objected and asked the EPA to review the Washington rules.
The EPA under Trump accepted the industry argument and announced their revisions in May.