The EPA is making it harder for states to stand up against proposed pipelines

The Trump administration is taking aim at one of the most powerful ways for states and tribal nations to block development projects, like pipelines, that threaten their water, climate, and health—such as the recent nixing of the controversial Williams pipeline by New York and New Jersey. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a revision to its Clean Water Act regulations that would limit the time states and tribes have to review proposals, as well as enable project developers to keep them in the dark by withholding information. It would also keep them from considering anything but a narrow set of water quality–specific issues in their decisions. (Yes, considerations like the impending existential climate crisis would be off the table.) With an oil-hungry federal government behind the wheel, state review is often the final stronghold for preventing fossil fuel infrastructure and other destructive projects.