The Biden administration has withdrawn a sweeping proposal to help protect rivers and streams on tribal lands and foster clean water for people on Indian reservations.
EPA will not move forward with a rule to establish water quality standards for hundreds of tribes that lack standards of their own, according to a notice in the Federal Register.
Water quality standards are a major tool for keeping pollution out of rivers, streams and lakes and ensuring water is safe for swimming, fishing and other activities. The standards are used by every state, but most tribes do not have water quality standards in place.
In 2023, EPA proposed a rule to close that gap. The rule would have helped protect water for more than half a million people living on reservations and came about after “decades of coordination and partnership with Tribes,” the agency said in a news release at the time. EPA sent a final version of the rule to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review in June of last year.
