Muddying the Waters

The report critiques the Trump administration's attempt to repeal the 2015 Clean Water Rule, asserting that the agencies used a revised economic analysis that violated their own requirements to make the rule appear unjustified. It maintains that the 2015 rule remains cost-benefit justified and that its repeal would result in the loss of significant environmental and economic benefits.

• The Trump administration's proposal to repeal the 2015 Clean Water Rule relies on a new economic analysis claiming that most benefits from the original 2015 analysis are unquantifiable, which suggests the rule lacks cost-benefit justification.
• The agencies failed to follow their own economic analysis requirements to reach their conclusion, and a comprehensive review indicates the 2015 Clean Water Rule is still justified by its costs and benefits.
• Repealing the 2015 Clean Water Rule would lead to the loss of significant economic and environmental advantages.

APA

Shrader, J. S. A. J. (2017). Muddying the Waters. Institute for Policy Integrity. https://policyintegrity.org/publications/detail/muddying-the-waters

Chicago

Shrader, Jason Schwartz and Jeffrey. Muddying the Waters. Institute for Policy Integrity, 2017. https://policyintegrity.org/publications/detail/muddying-the-waters.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Shrader |first1=Jason Schwartz and Jeffrey |title=Muddying the Waters |publisher=Institute for Policy Integrity |date=28 September 2017 |url=https://policyintegrity.org/publications/detail/muddying-the-waters |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{shrader2017muddying, author = {Shrader, Jason Schwartz and Jeffrey}, title = {{Muddying the Waters}}, institution = {Institute for Policy Integrity}, year = {2017}, month = sep, url = {https://policyintegrity.org/publications/detail/muddying-the-waters}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }