VOA常速英语2019--特朗普政府大幅减少对本国溪流等环境资源的保护（在线收听）

The Trump administration on Thursday ended federal protection for many of the nation's millions of kilometers of streams, arroyos and wetlands, a sweeping environmental rollback that could leave the waterways more vulnerable to pollution, that is, from development, industry and farms.

周四，特朗普政府不再保护对本国的数百万公里溪流、河谷、湿地，这是环保方面的大幅退步，可能导致水道遭受发展、工业、农场带来的污染。

The move narrows the types of waterways that qualify for federal protection under the Clean Water Act.

此举导致《清洁水法》下符合联邦政府保护的水道类型变少。

EPA assistant administrator David Ross says the water rule doesn't mean that states can't extend protection to waters as they deem necessary.

环境保护局副局长大卫·罗斯表示，《清洁水法》的规定并不意味着各州不能根据必要性来拓展对水域的保护。

This is not a rule that presumes if the federal government doesn't regulate, there is no regulation. That has been a fault of the former administrations, and it is simply not true.

这个规定并不意味着：如果联邦政府不监管，就没有监管了。这是前政府犯下的错误，这根本不是真的。

Environmental groups and public health advocates say the rollbacks will allow businesses to dump pollutants into unprotected waterways, fill in wetlands and threaten public water supplies downstream while harming wildlife and habitat.

一些环保组织和公共卫生的倡导者表示，这种环保的退步会让一些企业将污染物倒入不受保护的水道，导致湿地被填满，威胁公共水资源的下游供给，威胁野生动物和栖息地。