The White House is moving to an Obama-era rule guaranteeing clean water to a third of the United States.

The Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers are proposing scrapping the 2015 "Waters of the United States" rule in order to conduct a "substantive re-evaluation" of which rivers, streams, wetlands and other bodies of water should be protected by the federal government.  The rule updated the 1972 Clean Water Act to define which waterways can be regulated by the federal government.  That angered rural and agriculture interests and oil companies which complained the gave too much power to Washington, DC.

"Out-of-state DC bureaucrats shouldn't impose regulations that hurt Montana farmers, ranchers and landowners," said Montana Senator Steve Daines, a Republican.

But conservation and green groups say the Trump White House is pandering to corporate interests over the public good, and loosening standards threatens parts of the country like the Midwestern Great Lakes.

"This foolish rollback of clean water standards rejects years of work building stakeholder input and scientific data support, and it imperils the progress for safe clean drinking water in the Midwest," said Howard Learner, executive director of the Environmental Law & Policy Center.

"Once again, the Trump administration has agreed to do the bidding of the worst polluters in our country, and once again it's putting the health of American families and communities at risk," said Michael Brune, executive director of Sierra Club.  "We will fight this and every other attempt by polluters and the Trump administration to destroy our water resources."

"Clean water is vital to our ecology, our health and our quality of life," said John Rumpler, senior attorney with Environment America. "Repealing the Clean Water Rule turns the mission of the EPA on its head."