The Waters of the United States rule has finally been released by the Trump administration and will be going into effect in 60 days, what is expected to be the resolution of a 5-year long regulatory clusterfuck started under the Obama administration. With the 1972 Clean Water Act being vague about what waterways were given to federal jurisdiction and taken away from states, it was left unclear which wetlands were regulated by the EPA and which by state DNRs. In 2015, Obama attempted to jump into the uncertainty that had existed since Rapanos v US in 2006 and issued a rule stating that federal waters would include any ephemeral waterways- lands that are only temporarily wet after it rains, as well as any lands directly adjacent to waters, ie farmlands. The 1972 law only gave the US control of 'navigable waters' to prevent the discharge of pollutants into them, and as ephemeral waterways and dry farmlands were neither navigable nor waters, this rule change got blocked in the courts and has remained blocked to this day. Trump officially abandoned the Obama definition last year, and initiated the first step of a rules clarification in October, and the USACE has now officially released the definition at a Las Vegas conference this morning.
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The revised definition identifies four clear categories of waters that are federally regulated under the Clean Water Act: the territorial seas and traditional navigable waters, like the Atlantic Ocean and the Mississippi River; perennial and intermittent tributaries, such as College Creek, which flows to the James River near Williamsburg, Virginia; certain lakes, ponds, and impoundments, such as Children’s Lake in Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania; and wetlands that are adjacent to jurisdictional waters.
These four categories protect the nation’s navigable waters and the core tributary systems that flow into those waters.
This final action also details what waters are not subject to federal control, including features that only contain water in direct response to rainfall; groundwater; many ditches, including most farm and roadside ditches; prior converted cropland; farm and stock watering ponds; and waste treatment systems.
Notably, it does not include either ephemeral waterways or dry land adjacent to jurisdictional waters. Maybe rice farmers are still under the EPA, idk, but corn and hog farmers are now regulated by the states instead of feds.
Its still hard to tell what this actual change entails. Interestingly, the EPA's own statement rebukes the Obama administration quite directly about that very task, saying;
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Despite prior reports, there are no data or tools that can accurately map or quantify the scope of “waters of the United States.” This is the case today, and it was the case in 2014 when the Obama Administration issued its blog titled “Mapping the Truth.” Therefore, any assertions attempting to quantify changes in the scope of waters based on these data sets are far too inaccurate and speculative to be meaningful. While this Administration agrees that the current data and tools are insufficient, we are committed to supporting the development and improvement of the technology needed to map the nation’s aquatic resources.
So, does this regulatory framework mirror the post-Rapanos status quo? Is it a significant curtailing of federal overreach from current standards, or is it the same as current jurisdiction but less than the Obama redefinition?
Fuck if I know