AGA Joins Coalition Comments Filed Feb 7, 2022 on Proposed Expansion of Federal Water Jurisdiction

AGA Joins Coalition Comments Filed Feb. 7, 2022 on Proposed Expansion of Federal Water Jurisdiction

On Feb. 7, AGA joined the detailed comments filed by the Waters Advocacy Coalition (WAC) on a proposal by EPA and the Corps of Engineers to revise regulations interpreting where to draw the line between federal and state jurisdiction over water features and isolated or intermittently wet land features.  The proposed rule revisions would provide a revised interpretation of the term “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) as used in the federal Clean Water Act.   For an overview of the arguments made in the extensive comments, see the table of contents on pages i-iv.  The agencies asserted they were simply proposing to return the WOTUS regulations to pre-2015 law, while reflecting subsequent Supreme Court decisions, but as demonstrated in the comments, the proposal relies on a misinterpretation of the caselaw to expand the scope of federal jurisdiction even further than the 2015 rule.