Letter to EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Definition of “Waters of the United States”- Recodification of Pre-Existing Rules
August 13, 2018
On July 12, 2018 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) published a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking titled: Definition of “Waters of the United States”-Recodification of Pre-Existing Rules. This supplemental notice follows publication of a proposed rule of the same title published on July 27, 2017. The proposed rule is the first in a two-step process to revise the definition of “waters of the United States.” This first step proposes to rescind the definition of “waters of the United States” as promulgated in the 2015 Clean Water Rule, and instead apply the definition of “waters of the United States” as it existed before the 2015 rule. This supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking seeks to clarify that the regulatory action would permanently repeal the 2015 Rule. Furthermore, the supplemental notice seeks additional comments from the public on reasons and considerations for the agencies’ proposal to repeal the 2015 rule.
