Source: Susan Kelly, MEATINGPLACE, 11/30/17


The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to delay the effective date of the 2015 rule defining waters of the United States (WOTUS) until two years after the regulation is finalized and published in the Federal Register.

Implementation of the 2015 WOTUS rule, which re-defines the scope of federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act, is on hold due to a federal circuit court stay and the Supreme Court’s pending decision on whether the court of appeals has jurisdiction to review challenges to the rule. The Supreme Court held oral arguments Oct. 11, 2017, and could issue a decision resolving the appeals court jurisdiction question anytime, EPA said.

Concurrent with the court review, EPA said it is engaged in a two-step rulemaking process to reconsider the WOTUS rule. The first step proposes to rescind the definition of “waters of the United States” and re-codify the previous definition. In step two, EPA and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers are working to “substantively reconsider” the definition of waters of the United States, EPA said.

A two-year extension of the effective date of the WOTUS rule would ensure that the scope of CWA jurisdiction will be administered as it is now and that there is sufficient time for reconsidering the definition of WOTUS in the regulatory process, the agency said.

The proposed rule amending the effective date was published in the Federal Register last week, and the public comment period closes on Dec. 13, 2017.

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