Clean Water Act Jurisdiction

State Wetlands Group Eliminates Key Slots After EPA Deobligates Grants

The National Association of Wetland Managers (NAWM), a group that seeks to “build capacity” for state and tribes to protect wetlands, is eliminating four positions and its current executive director is stepping down, due to funding challenges after EPA deobligated several grants and sought to cut ties with the group. Maria Stelk, the departing executive director, announced the changes in an Oct. 6 statement that blames the Trump administration’s “disdain” toward nonprofits that led to the grants’ deobligation. “NAWM must...

Industry Urges ‘Strict Adherence’ To Sackett In Proposed WOTUS Rule

Industry groups are pressing Trump administration officials to ensure “strict adherence” to the Supreme Court’s Sackett decision when they issue a proposed rule defining “waters of the United States” (WOTUS), though the timing of any proposal’s release is uncertain amid the federal government shutdown. The industry groups made their pitch in meetings on a pending draft proposal with EPA and White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) officials last month before federal funding for EPA and other government...

Army Corps sends final NWP package to OMB for review

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has begun formal review of the Trump’s administration’s final five-year overhaul of dozens of Clean Water Act (CWA) dredge-and-fill general permits for pipelines, transmission lines and other projects after the Army Corps of Engineers submitted the measure for review. The Corps sent its final package of reissued and modified nationwide general permits (NWPs) to OMB for interagency review on Sept. 26, teeing the measure up for finalization well ahead of the March 2026...

EPA’s WOTUS Plan Appears Aimed At Quelling Industry, State Concerns

The Trump EPA’s upcoming plan to revise the definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) appears aimed at quelling concerns raised by industry groups and states over the Biden-era rule, broadening the scope of certain existing exclusions and incorporating flexibilities to account for states with differing hydrology. The agency’s draft plan, currently under review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), establishes explicit definitions on such hot-button terms such as “continuous surface connection” between waterbodies and whether they...

EPA Plans Oil & Gas ELG Revision As Part Of Broad Deregulatory Agenda

EPA’s Spring 2025 Unified Agenda announces a new rulemaking that could potentially broaden the reach of effluent limitations for the oil and gas extraction category, which currently only allows discharges of produced water in areas west of the 98th meridian, the geographic dividing line between East and West. The measure appears to be the only new rulemaking in the agency’s Sept. 4 unified agenda, which otherwise aligns with sweeping deregulatory efforts the agency has already announced, setting deadlines for measures...

Seeking Deal, California Senator Stalls Bill To Expand CWA Prior To Sackett

A California lawmaker has temporarily shelved an industry-opposed bill to expand the reach of the state’s Clean Water Act to include waterbodies that are no longer subject to federal jurisdiction under the Supreme Court’s Sackett decision, and counter rollbacks of discharge rules under the Trump administration. A spokesman for Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), author of SB 601, tells Inside CalEPA that the bill has been shelved to give the lawmaker more time to cut a deal with...

EPA sends WOTUS proposal to OMB for interagency review

EPA has sent a proposed rule to revise the definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) that are subject to Clean Water Act (CWA) requirements to the White House for interagency review, with officials pledging to finalize the measure by the end of the year. The rule aims to align with the Supreme Court’s Sackett v. EPA decision that narrowed the scope of the CWA, particularly for wetlands. The agency’s draft proposed rule revising the definition of WOTUS...

9th Circuit Grapples With Retroactive Application Of Sackett In Citizen Suit

An appellate panel is grappling with whether a district court properly rejected a defendant’s bid to dismiss a Clean Water Act (CWA) citizen suit post-verdict for lack of subject matter jurisdiction as a result of the Supreme Court’s Sackett v. EPA decision, appearing to test defendants’ ability to apply the high court’s precedent retroactively. A panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit heard Aug. 11 arguments in the suit Inland Empire Waterkeeper, et al., v....

PLF Appeals CWA Jurisdiction Finding, Citing ‘Near Identical’ To Sackett

Free-market legal group Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) is appealing an Army Corps of Engineers finding that a wetland is subject to Clean Water Act (CWA) regulation that the group says is a “near identical” situation to the one in Sackett v. EPA , where the Supreme Court significantly narrowed the reach of the CWA. The renewed litigation push comes as the Trump EPA is seeking to revise a Biden-era rule implementing that decision. PLF on July 8 filed an administrative...

Conservatives Channel ‘Abundance’ In Push For Access To Public Lands

The conservative Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) is channeling the new “abundance” theory, aimed at boosting Democrats’ political fortunes, in a bid to challenge various environmental protections on public lands including by limiting EPA’s Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction and encouraging greater activity such as natural resource development. Mark Miller, director of PLF’s new Environment & Natural Resources practice group, says the effort was created in response to President Donald Trump embracing the “abundance agenda,” and says it will focus on...

Chamber CWA Policy Requests Could See Success In SRF Reauthorization

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is emphasizing its support for various water infrastructure and funding policies as House Republicans advance legislation to overhaul Clean Water Act (CWA) permitting processes, potentially pushing for such policies’ inclusion in the 2026 state revolving fund’s (SRF) reauthorization bill. The Chamber promotes “solutions that enjoy broad support,” in a June 25 letter to Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Senate environment committee, and Reps. Sam...

EPA Signals Priorities For WOTUS Revision Ahead Of Rule Development

EPA is signaling that its upcoming rule re-defining “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) will seek to provide clarity for future jurisdictional determinations and will also consider states’ diverse hydrologies, key concerns that industry and state groups highlighted in their recent public comments to the agency. In a June 17 statement , EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced their completion of “a robust series of listening sessions” seeking input from stakeholders on “real-world and practical experience” with...

House GOP Offers Series Of Bills Aimed At Overhauling Clean Water Act

House Republicans have introduced more than a dozen bills aimed at overhauling a range of provisions in the Clean Water Act (CWA) in an effort to streamline permitting, reduce regulatory burdens and clarify controversial definitions. While the legislation is unlikely to win support from Democrats or advance in the Senate, the bills target major policy measures where the Trump administration is reworking EPA policy. Republicans on the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee (T&I) June 12 issued 15 bills introduced this...

California Lawmaker Agrees To Drop Citizen Suit Provision From CWA Bill

California state Sen. Ben Allen (D) is planning to drop from his bill strengthening the state’s Clean Water Act (CWA) provisions allowing private citizens to enforce its requirements and replace them with language expanding state enforcement, though industry groups that strongly opposed the provision appear likely to remain against the bill. “We are still finalizing the exact language of the amendments, but Sen. Allen (Santa Monica) is committed to removing the citizen enforcement provisions of the bill and instead allowing...

California Senate Passes Bill To Restore CWA Reach Prior To Sackett, Trump

The California Senate has narrowly passed a bill that would expand the reach of the state’s Clean Water Act to include waterbodies that are no longer subject to federal jurisdiction under the Supreme Court’s Sackett decision defining “waters of the United States” (WOTUS), and counter rollbacks of discharge rules under the Trump administration. The measure -- which is opposed by the state’s powerful agriculture sector and other industry groups -- would also for the first time under state law...

Small Businesses Press EPA For Host Of Actions To Ease CWA Application

Small business groups and their supporters are pressing EPA to take a series of actions to ease Clean Water Act (CWA) implementation, including calling for a bright-line test to determine what qualifies as “waters of the United States” (WOTUS), accounting for any new WOTUS’ impacts on small entities and limiting future enforcement actions. Their calls came during EPA’s May 19 listening session on the Trump administration’s planned WOTUS revision for small business stakeholders, where representatives emphasized the importance for EPA...

Industry Urges Agencies To Go Beyond Sackett When Curbing WOTUS

Industry groups are urging the Trump administration to make sweeping cuts to the reach of the Clean Water Act (CWA), pressing officials to strictly align the definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) with the Sackett decision while expanding the scope of various waivers and shifting the onus to the agencies to prove jurisdiction in some cases. Exemptions are “essential to farmers’ operations, and exemptions are only as good as how well they are written,” Courtney Briggs, senior...

California Advances Bill To Restore State CWA Reach Prior To Sackett, Trump

California lawmakers are advancing a bill that would expand the reach of the state’s Clean Water Act to include waterbodies that are no longer subject to federal jurisdiction under the Supreme Court’s Sackett decision defining “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) and to counter rollbacks of discharge rules under the Trump administration. The measure, which is opposed by a variety of industry and business groups, would also for the first time under state law establish a private right of...

States Split On WOTUS But Agree On Need For EPA To Preserve Flexibilities

State officials are at odds on how the Trump administration should revise the definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) given the geographic and policy diversity, but they agree that EPA and the Army Corps of Engineer’s upcoming rule should provide flexibility to allow states to regulate waters and wetlands that may lose federal protections. “Rule number one is for the federal government not to get into the way of or complicate efforts on behalf of the state environmental...

States Urge EPA To Retain Flexible WOTUS Definitions, Fearing Challenges

As EPA prepares to hold listening sessions for its upcoming rulemaking to revise the Biden-era “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule, state officials are urging the agency to retain flexible definitions of key regulatory terms, fearing that such an approach could limit states’ abilities to regulate across different conditions and approaches. “We encourage the Agencies to reach out to state governors and Tribal leaders to invite them or their designees to participate in a future workshop or workshops focused...

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