Senators Fighting To Keep Navigable Waters Protection Rule, Repeal WOTUS
Few regulations governing the nation’s source water bodies have embodied the differences in agenda between recent presidential administrations like the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule.
First established by the Obama administration, WOTUS was passed through the U.S. EPA as an amendment to Clean Water Act regulations, with defenders arguing that it added much-needed clarity to which waterways fell under federal jurisdiction. But opponents of the rule have argued that it granted too much authority to the federal government and a revised definition of the rule, called the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, was introduced during the Trump administration.
Since then, the two federal rules have been litigated, with the Navigable Waters rule gaining some court victories. Now, with President Biden taking office, it appears that this rule will once again undergo change.
“The Biden administration is swinging the pendulum of repeated changes to water regulation back to expanding after those regulatory powers contracted under President Donald Trump,” Bloomberg Law reported. “The Biden administration is expected to ask courts to put WOTUS litigation on ice to give the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers time to decide if and how to rewrite the Trump administration 2020 [Navigable Waters Protection Rule].”
However, the battle between the Navigable Waters Protection Rule and WOTUS is unlikely to shift again quietly. As President Biden works to alter the latest version of the rule, some legislators in D.C. seek to keep it the way it is.
“Senator Roger Marshall says he is helping to lead an effort on a Senate resolution that expresses the need for the Senate to stand with workers, farmers, manufacturers and businesses by upholding the Trump Administration’s Navigable Waters Protection rule,” per WIBW.
The report noted that some 25 senators would support such a resolution.
As the legislative battle over this rule endures, it’s become clear that the battle between WOTUS and the Navigable Waters Protection Rule — or similar laws — will just continue back and forth unless more substantive legislative action takes place.
“Political compromise is unlikely, however, until the Supreme Court or Congress can settle the issue once and for all,” per Bloomberg Law. “The pendulum is likely to continue swinging ‘indefinitely, unless one party establishes political dominance,’ said David Owen, a professor at the University of California, Hastings College of Law.”
To read more about the federal rulings that impact jurisdiction over source water, visit Water Online’s Regulations And Legislation Solutions Center.