Biden moves to restore clean-water safeguards ended by Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has begun legal action to repeal a Trump-era rule that ended federal protections for hundreds of thousands of small streams, wetlands and other waterways. That left them more vulnerable to pollution from development, industry and farms. The rule narrowed the types of waterways that qualify for federal protection under the Clean Water Act. It was one of hundreds of rollbacks of environmental and public health regulations under former President Donald Trump, who said the rules imposed unnecessary burdens on business. Environmental groups and public-health advocates said the Trump-era rollback allowed businesses to dump pollutants into unprotected waterways and some wetlands, threatening public water supplies downstream and harming wildlife.