*Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2017 *

**Remarks on Signing an Executive Order on Restoring the Rule of Law, Federalism, and Economic Growth by Reviewing the "Waters of the United States" Rule **

*February 28, 2017 *

*The President. *Well, thank you very much. We love West Virginia. Thank you. This was just handed to me.

[*At this point, the President held up a red baseball cap for the audience to see, and then he read the words printed across the front*]* *

"Make Counties Great Again." You're right. You're right, thank you. Hold that for me, I'll take this.

*Participant. *From the counties, we appreciate that.

*The President. *Well, thank you, everybody. We appreciate you being here. Thank you very much. First of all, I want to congratulate Scott Pruitt, who's here someplace. Where is Scott? So important. We're going to free up our country, and it's going be done in a very environmental and positive environmental way, I will tell you that, but create millions of jobs. So many jobs are delayed for so many years, and it's unfair to everybody. So I want congratulate Scott.

I want to thank everyone for being here today. We have a great group of farmers, homebuilders, and county commissioners. They're all represented. They're standing alongside of me. I'd also like to thank Jim Inhofe, who's been so terrific in so many different ways, beyond even this. So I want thank Jim and also the leadership in the Senate on issue, a friend of mine—a great friend of mine—John Barrasso.

EPA's so-called "Waters of the United States" rule is one of the worst examples of Federal regulation, and it has truly run amok, and is one of the rules most strongly opposed by farmers, ranchers, and agricultural workers all across our land. It's prohibiting them from being allowed to do what they're supposed to be doing. It's been a disaster.

The Clean Waters Act says that the EPA can regulate "navigable waters," meaning waters that truly affect interstate commerce. But a few years ago, the EPA decided that "navigable waters" can mean nearly every puddle or every ditch on a farmer's land, or anyplace else that they decide. Right?

*Participant. *Yes, sir.

*The President. *It was a massive power grab. The EPA's regulators were putting people out of jobs by the hundreds of thousands, and regulations and permits started treating our wonderful small farmers and small businesses as if they were a major industrial polluter. They treated them horribly. Horribly.

If you want to build a new home, for example, you have to worry about getting hit with a huge fine if you fill in as much as a puddle—just a puddle—on your lot. I've seen it. In fact, when it was first shown to me, I said, no, you're kidding, aren't you? But they weren't kidding.

In one case in Wyoming, a rancher was fined $37,000 a day by the EPA for digging a small watering hole for his cattle. His land. These abuses were, and are, why such incredible opposition to this rule from the hundreds of organizations took place in all 50 States. It's a horrible, horrible rule. Has sort of a nice name, but everything else is bad. [*Laughter*] I've been hearing about it for years and years. I didn't know I'd necessarily be in this position to do something about it, but we've been hearing about it for years. With today's Executive order, I'm directing the EPA to take action, paving the way for the elimination of this very destructive and horrible rule.

So I want to thank everybody for being here. And I will sign wherever I'm supposed to sign. There we are. Thank you very much.

*Participant. *Thank you, Mr. President.

*The President. *This is a big one. Let's start hiring those people, fellas. Right?

*Participant*. Absolutely.

*The President*. Going to be a big difference. So how important is this?

*Senator John A. Barrasso*. Huge.

*Participant*. Very!

*Participant*. Big league! [*Laughter*]

[*At this point, the President signed the Executive order.*]

*Sen. Barrasso*. For the farmers, ranchers, people who make their living on the land.

*Participant*. All rural Americans, actually.

*Sen. Barrasso*. This is putting people back to work. It's going to be a strong and healthy economy.

*The President*. And I'll tell you John, you have the right man with Scott Pruitt. You watch the job he does, he's phenomenal. Congratulations. [*Applause*]

*National Association of Counties President Bryan M. Desloge*. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

*National Association of Home Builders Chairman G. Granger MacDonald*. [*Inaudible*]—we want to thank you for keeping your word.

*The President*. Well thank you. The homebuilders—you know, you didn't know it was going to go this fast. You probably thought maybe at the end of the fourth year, right? [*Laughter*]

*Mr. MacDonald.* Exactly, sir.

*Mr. Desloge*. And on behalf of the counties across the country—3,000 counties—we can't thank you enough.

*The President*. Thank you very much.

NOTE: The President spoke at 2:23 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency E. Scott Pruitt; Sen. James M. Inhofe; and Fort Bridger, WY, resident and farmer Andy Johnson. He also referred to Executive Order 13778.

*Categories:* Addresses and Remarks : U.S. waters jurisdictional boundaries, review of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency rule, signing an Executive order*.*

*Locations: *Washington, DC.* *

*Names:* Barrasso, John A.; Desloge, Bryan M.; Inhofe, James M.; Johnson, Andy; MacDonald, G. Granger; Pruitt, E. Scott*.* *Subjects:* Army, Department of the : U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Employment and unemployment : Job creation and growth; Environment : Water management policy, improvement efforts; Environmental Protection Agency; Government organization and employees : Federal regulations, review.

*DCPD Number:* DCPD201700146.