Who Could Benefit From Water Rule Change? Trump And His Golf Courses
03/06/2017 12:16 am ET | Updated 5 hours ago
Who Could Benefit From Water Rule Change? Trump And His Golf Courses
Introducing yet another potential conflict of interest.
By Mary Papenfuss
President Donald Trump’s war on clean water regulations could end up benefiting something near and dear to his heart — and his bank account: the dozen golf courses he owns in the U.S.
Trump last month signed an executive order calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to issue a review of the Clean Water Rule, also known as the Waters of the United States rule. The rule, which Barack Obama instituted in 2015, designates many smaller creeks and wetlands as protected under the Clean Water Act of 1972, meaning landowners are required to protect such bodies of water from pollution.
Builders, farmers and golf course owners — via their lobbying group, Golf Course Superintendents Association of America — have fought the Obama rule, calling it federal “overreach.” They say they don’t want to be saddled with the extra costs of keeping smaller bodies of water on their land clean, even though environmentalist say they feed into larger water systems depended on by the public.
Trump’s push against the rule raises yet another concern about his conflicts of interest in his dual role as both president and business owner. (Bloomberg points out that the golf association includes 20 Trump employees.) Critics worry that Trump is considering what’s good for the bottom line at his golf courses, rather than what’s good for the country.
“This conflict is disturbing and his failure to completely step away from his business raises questions about his White House actions,” Scott Amey, general counsel for the Project on Government Oversight, told The Associated Press.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/water-trump-golf-courses_us_58bcd4a4e4b05cf0f4015c99?section=politics