BISMARCK — North Dakota officials along with agriculture and business groups praised the Trump administration's proposal to limit the federal government's authority over wetlands and other water bodies at a public listening session on Friday, but environmental groups said the move will be harmful for water quality and wildlife.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency has had regulatory authority over the "Waters of the United States" (WOTUS) since 1972 when Congress passed the Clean Water Act.

How those waters are defined, however, has gone back and forth in the decades since, with Democratic presidential administrations generally interpreting federal authority broader than Republicans.

At question is which wetlands, ditches and smaller streams count as being connected to larger int

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