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DeWine Sues the Obama Administration Over Changes to Stream Protection Rules

photo of covered bridge in Ashtabula
KENNETH KEIFER
/
SHUTTERSTOCK
The changes prohibit mining within 100 feet of streams.

Ohio’s top attorney is taking on the Obama Administration one last time just as the president prepares to leave office.

President Barack Obama authorized a rule change to be implemented on his second to last day in the Oval Office. The change to the Stream Protection Rule requires mining companies to restore the quality of waterways once their work is done.

But Attorney General Mike DeWine is joining 12 other states in suing the administration. DeWine calls this rule change a last-minute, drastic overreach by Obama.

Kristy Meyer with the Ohio Environmental Council counters that the rule change is sensible especially given that 90 percent of Ohioans get their drinking water from rivers and streams.

The Ohio attorney general is also asking the Republican-controlled Congress to stop the rule change on their end.

Andy Chow is a general assignment state government reporter who focuses on environmental, energy, agriculture, and education-related issues. He started his journalism career as an associate producer with ABC 6/FOX 28 in Columbus before becoming a producer with WBNS 10TV.