DC: A federal judge in South Carolina issued an injunction against the Trump administration Thursday, lifting a stay on an Obama-era rule that expanded federal authority under the Clean Water Act.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized the “waters of the U.S.” (WOTUS) rule in 2015, giving the agency the authority to regulate seasonal and relatively insignificant bodies of water as “navigable waters” under the Clean Water Act. President Donald Trump issued an executive order in February 2017 to review and rewrite the WOTUS rule to constrict its application “consistent with the opinion of Justice Antonin Scalia in Rapanos v. United States.”

Former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt followed up on Trump’s executive order in January, beginning the review process and staying the WOTUS rule until 2020. Thursday’s injunction lifts Pruitt’s order to stay the rule in 26 states, or every state in which a district judge has not already ordered the rule stayed, E&E News reports.

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