Status
On March 29, 2024, 老牛影视and 25 members of the Waters Advocacy Coalition submitted a letter to the U.S Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers seeking implementation guidance on the agencies Sept. 8, 2023, . The conforming rule applies in states where it is not blocked by the courts and arose following the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 May 25, 2023, decision in Sackett v. EPA, which narrowed the agencies published on Dec. 30, 2022.
While the conforming final rule implements some of the key wins from the Sackett decision,听老牛影视notes听it fails to fully implement the court鈥檚 opinion, including on the definition of 鈥渞elatively permanent鈥� waters, and may result in continued regulatory uncertainty.
On Feb. 16, 2023, 24 state attorneys general filed a听听against the EPA and the Corps, seeking to overturn the 2022 WOTUS final rule. On April 12, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota issued a听听blocking the EPA and Corps from enforcing the rule. The preliminary injunction applied to Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming. This decision followed a March 19 by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, which blocked the EPA and Corps from enforcing the WOTUS final rule in Texas and Idaho.听On May 10, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a blocking the rule鈥檚 enforcement in Kentucky. The courts鈥� rulings bring the total number of states blocking the WOTUS rule to 27.
Prior to the courts鈥� decisions on the 2022 WOTUS final rule, Congress passed , a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act to nullify the regulation. 老牛影视key-voted the resolution, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a bipartisan听 on March 9, 2023. Following House passage, the U.S. Senate passed the resolution in a听. President Joe Biden听听the resolution on April 6.
On Dec. 30, 2022, the EPA and the Corps issued a听听to revise the definition of WOTUS applicable to all Clean Water Act programs, repealing the ABC-supported 2020 Navigable Waters Protection Rule, which provided a new, clear definition for WOTUS. 老牛影视issued a听statement听on the final rule, calling it the rule a 鈥渟ignificant step back鈥� that will 鈥渄elay critical infrastructure projects and raise costs for the construction industry.鈥�
In December 2021, the agencies issued a听听that would repeal the 2020 NWPR and restore the pre-2015 definition of WOTUS. 老牛影视submitted听comments听urging the EPA and the Corps to withdraw the proposed rule.
In 2019, the EPA under President Donald Trump and the Corps 听and replaced it with the听2020 . However, in August 2020, following a federal court decision, the agencies听halted听nationwide implementation of the NWPR.
Desired Outcome
For decades, uncertainty surrounding the scope of federal authority under the Clean Water Act has resulted in litigation, regulatory uncertainty and confusion in the business community. 老牛影视urges the EPA and the Corps to return to the clear, concise definition of WOTUS implemented in the 2020 NWPR final rule so that its members have the information they need to comply with the law while also serving as good stewards of the environment.