EPA to revise Waters of the United States Rule

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced last week that EPA will work with the United States Army Corps of Engineers to review the definition of “waters of the United States.”

According to the agency, the effort aims to ensure that a “revised definition follows the law, reduces red-tape, cuts overall permitting costs, and lowers the cost of doing business in communities across the country while protecting the nation’s navigable waters from pollution.”

“We want clean water for all Americans supported by clear and consistent rules for all states, farmers, and small businesses,” said EPA Administrator Zeldin. “The previous Administration’s definition of ‘waters of the United States’ placed unfair burdens on the American people and drove up the cost of doing business. Our goal is to protect America’s water resources consistent with the law of the land while empowering American farmers, landowners, entrepreneurs, and families to help Power the Great American Comeback.”

EPA will start its review by expeditiously obtaining input from stakeholders who were sidelined during the previous administration. The agency will seek targeted information on the key challenges that Americans are facing. The agency will also undertake a rulemaking process to revise the 2023 definition of “waters of the United States” with a focus on clarity, simplicity and improvements that will stand the test of time. While this rulemaking process proceeds, the agency will provide guidance to those states implementing the pre-2015 definition of “waters of the United States” to ensure consistency with the law of the land.

EPA went on to state their review will be guided by the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, which stated that the Clean Water Act’s use of “waters” encompasses only those relatively permanent, standing or continuously flowing bodies of water forming streams, oceans, rivers and lakes. The Sackett decision also clarified that wetlands would only be covered when having a continuous surface connection to waterbodies that are “waters of the United States” in their own right.

For more information, visit the EPA’s website Waters of the United States.