EPA Touts Legal Defensibility Of WOTUS Rule As Groups Pledge Litigation

EPA and Army Corps of Engineers officials are emphasizing the legal strength of the Trump administration’s new definition of “waters of the United States (WOTUS)” and the regulatory clarity the rule provides even as environmentalists and Democratic lawmakers are vowing to fight the just-finalized rule with all available tools. The final Clean Water Act (CWA) rule signed Jan. 23 by EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler and Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works R.D. James closely resembles the proposed version,...