{"id":1285,"date":"2019-07-24T14:05:33","date_gmt":"2019-07-24T14:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trccompanies.com\/insights\/potential-impacts-epa-wotus-rule\/"},"modified":"2024-12-13T02:33:54","modified_gmt":"2024-12-13T02:33:54","slug":"potential-impacts-epa-wotus-rule","status":"publish","type":"news-and-insights","link":"https:\/\/www.trccompanies.com\/fr\/insights\/potential-impacts-epa-wotus-rule\/","title":{"rendered":"Potential Impacts from EPA\u2019s Proposed Waters of the United States Rule"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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The EPA is attempting to redefine the\u00a0Waters of the United States<\/a>\u00a0to bring more clarity to the Clean Water Act and address a rash of successful legal challenges that followed a 2015 rule change. The 2015 rule was considered by many to be vague in its definition of protected waters, which triggered the flood of lawsuits \u2013 including some that ended up before the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n\n

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Overview of the New Rule<\/h2>\n

The new rule<\/a>\u00a0was initiated by Executive Order 13778 in 2017, which authorized the EPA and the assistant secretary of the Army to review 2015\u2019s\u00a0Clean Water Rule<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 specifically the portion defining \u201cnavigable waters\u201d \u2013 and propose revisions. The new rule would establish a new definition of protected waters that clarifies federal authority under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and provide greater flexibility to states and tribes to manage their land and water resources. The rule could also take into account court rulings, so that future court challenges could be avoided.<\/p>\n

The revised rule is intended to establish bright lines between federal and state waters and eliminate case-by-case application of the significant nexus test set forth in Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy\u2019s concurring opinion in\u00a0Rapanos v. United States<\/a><\/em>. The rule attempts to accomplish this by establishing six types of water bodies that are considered Waters of the United States (WOTUS) and 11 types that aren\u2019t. It would also further define some key terms important to describing and determining WOTUS.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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Under the new rule, the six types of water bodies considered WOTUS are:<\/p>\n