"Some of the biggest names in the oil industry -- Exxon Mobil Corp., Marathon Oil Corp. and the American Petroleum Institute -- have waded into the fight to stop the Obama administration from strengthening Clean Water Act regulation of streams and wetlands.

The three oil heavyweights met with White House officials last month and threatened legal warfare if the administration proceeds with issuing new guidance on Clean Water Act rules that would increase the number of wetlands and streams subject to federal pollution regulation and permitting.

The oil industry adds significantly to the pressure already being applied by the homebuilding, agriculture and mining industries -- all of which dispatched lobbyists to the White House in January -- to back off a proposed policy they say exemplifies the sort of onerous regulation that President Obama recently pledged to eliminate."

Paul Quinlan reports for Greenwire April 15, 2011. [2]