By: Connor Egan, Editor-in-Chief
On March 25, 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers released a proposed rule amending the Clean Water Act.
The proposal is a response to a near decade of demand by state and federal legislators and environmental groups to clarify the extent of the Act’s jurisdiction.
The proposed rule clarifies the Act’s jurisdiction over the nation’s streams and wetlands by amending its definition of “water.”
Today, Supreme Court decisions in 2001 and 2006
have left many uncertain as to the actual breadth of the Act’s coverage.
The proposed rule remedies this uncertainty by explicitly listing wetlands and intermittent streams as protected waters.
The EPA and Corps of Engineers are currently engaged in a 90-day outreach effort to solicit comment before the final rule making.
In an op-ed released in conjunction with the proposed rule, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy explained, “[w]e are clarifying protection for the upstream waters that are absolutely vital to downstream communities.”
In a coordinate press release, the EPA stressed that the amendments would be consistent with the recent Supreme Court decisions, which seemingly narrowed the scope of Clean Water Act jurisdiction.
Since the proposal’s release, is has been hailed as the “biggest step forward for clean water in more than a decade.”
While the rule will not be finalized until early summer, its ratification would bring approximately 20 million acres of wetlands and 2 million miles of streams under EPA protection.
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EPA and Army Corps of Engineers Clarify Protection for Nation’s Streams and Wetlands: Agriculture’s Exemptions and Exclusions from Clean Water Act Expanded By Proposal, EPA, Mar. 25, 2014,
[hereinafter Press Release] (publication in Federal Register still pending).
Id.
Id.
See Rapanos v. United States, 547 U.S. 715 (2006); Solid Waste Agency of N. Cook Cnty. v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 531 U.S. 159 (2001).
Neela Banerjee, Clean Water Act proposal would protect more water sources in West, L.A. Times, Mar. 25, 2014, available at
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-epa-waters-20140326,0,1080552.story#axzz2yznfcabq
.
Press Release, supra note 2.
Id.
Gina McCarthy, Clearer Protections for Clean Water, The Huffington Post, Mar. 25, 2014, available at
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gina-mccarthy/clearer-protections-for-c_b_5029328.html
.
Press Release, supra note 2.
Environment America, EPA Rule Would Close Loopholes in Clean Water Act, Restore Protections for Streams and Wetlands, EcoWatch, Mar. 25, 2014,
http://ecowatch.com/2014/03/25/epa-clean-water-act-restore-protections-wetlands/
.
Kate Bissell, Proposed Rule to Clarify Clean Water Act Coverage, The Wildlife Society, Mar. 31, 2014,
http://news.wildlife.org/featured/proposed-rule-to-clarify-clean-water-act-coverage/
; Juliet Eilperin and Darryl Fears, EPA proposes greater protections for streams, wetlands under Clean Water Act, Wash. Post, Mar. 25, 2014, available at
.