"The Trump administration’s long-anticipated water jurisdiction rule has already drawn a half-dozen legal challenges since its April release, with more on the way.
The Navigable Waters Protection Rule narrows which types of wetlands and waterways trigger federal Clean Water Act oversight, replacing interpretations by Obama-era officials and earlier administrations.
The new approach means developers no longer need federal permits for work that affects some types of waterways now excluded from the definition of “waters of the United States,” or WOTUS.
The legal snarl stems from years of disagreement over what counts as a WOTUS under the statute. The question has reached the U.S. Supreme Court multiple times, most recently in 2006, but the justices’ fractured ruling failed to end the debate."
Ellen M. Gilmer and Amena H. Saiyid report for Bloomberg Environment May 18, 2020.
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