Court Decrees NWPA, WOTUS Replacement Rule, Effective Nationwide

DENVER, CO – Just less than one year ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers published the Navigable Waters Protection Rule in the Federal Register to finalize a revised definition of “Waters of the United States” (also known as WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act and the rule went into effect on June 22, 2020. The revised rule, developed in part due to backlash from the agricultural industry, was streamlined to include four simple categories of jurisdictional waters, providing clear exclusions for many water features that traditionally have not been regulated, and defined terms in the regulatory text that have never been defined before. While the ag industry was celebrating, one state was not allowed to be included because the District Court for the District of Colorado stayed the effective date of the Rule, only in the State of Colorado. Last week, however, a federal appeals court reversed the lower court decision to freeze the rule despite an effort by the Biden administration to halt the appeal.
(SOURCE: All Ag News)