WOTUS Action Alert: Efforts to replace Clean Water Rule continue

May 29, 2018

Early this month, the White House released an updated timeline to repeal and replace the 2015 Clean Water Rule, also known as the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule. According to the document, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers are expected to release a "supplemental" proposal for the repeal this month, and will not finalize their planned repeal of the rule until November. In the meantime, the agencies will be working to release a new, narrower definition of "waters of the U.S." this August, with a final rule expected in September 2019. 

In recent years, lawmakers made several efforts to repeal and replace the 2015 WOTUS rule. So far, their efforts to define "navigable waters" haven't gained much traction, but the threat remains. One attempt to insert a provision in this year’s Farm Bill would have very narrowly defined the scope of the Clean Water Act. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) put forth an amendment that would have limited the scope of the Clean Water Act to include only "relatively permanent, standing or continuously flowing bodies of water" and "wetlands that have a continuous surface water connection" to navigable waters. The amendment failed to make it out of the House Committee on Rules and will not be debated on the House floor. However, a troubling amendment to repeal the 2015 rule, sponsored by Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), was cleared for debate and a vote on the House Floor. 

The FY2019 Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations bill also contains a policy rider that would repeal the WOTUS rule. Previous policy riders in Fiscal Year 2018 appropriations bills that sought to exempt the repeal of the rule from the Administrative Procedures Act failed earlier this year. Such an exemption would have allowed the administration to ignore public input in repealing the rule, or adopt a rule without any reasonable justification.

IAGLR supports the protections for headwater streams and wetlands enshrined in the 2015 Clean Water Rule. The rule was supported by millions of Americans and is backed by sound science. Please consider calling your member of Congress to express your support for protecting our nation’s critical headwater streams and wetlands in order to shield communities from flooding, safeguard drinking water, and defend critical fish and wildlife habitat that supports an $887 billion outdoor recreation economy.