The Trump administration's proposed changes to the definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) “decreases protection for our nation’s waters and does not support the objective of restoring and maintaining ‘the chemical, physical and biological integrity’ of these waters,” EPA’s Science Advisory Board said.

Newsom touts environmental justice * U.S-China meeting set

The Trump administration’s proposed new definition of “Waters of the United States” in the Clean Water Act is either a radical policy shift that misinterprets Supreme Court precedent and will leave up to 70 percent of tributaries and half the nation’s wetlands unprotected, or it’s a constitutionally valid approach to regulating the nation’s waters that preserves the states’ lead role over water pollution control and land use planning.

Growers in California and several other states are fighting to retain use of chlorpyrifos, a broad-spectrum insecticide environmentalists and farmworker advocates have sought to ban for years.