Trump’s EPA Awaiting Ruling of New WOTUS Rule

(WASHINGTON, DC) The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final rule on a new Waters of the United States (WOTUS) regulation has been sent to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The regulation would replace the WOTUS rule issued in August 2015 by the Obama administration’s EPA. That measure gave the agency broad jurisdiction over U.S. waters to include, among other water bodies, upstream waters and intermittent streams such as the kind farmers use for drainage and irrigation. It also covered lands adjacent to such waters. Prior to the 2015 rule, EPA’s jurisdiction over waterways – based on several U.S. Supreme Court decisions – included “navigable” waters and waters with a significant hydrologic connection to navigable waters.