Navigable Waters Protection Rule (aka the New WOTUS Rule)
aglaw.libsyn.com/episode-81-jim-bradbury-navigable-waters-protection-rule for a recent podcast episode featuring Jim Bradbury walking us through the scope of the Rule and the potential implications for agriculture.
Background
by Tiffany Dowell, Texas Agriculture Law Blog
The Clean Water Act, passed in 1972, is intended to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s waters. With regard to agriculture, the two most important sections are Section 402 (dealing with point source discharges) and Section 404 (dealing with dredge and fill). The Clean Water Act provides federal regulatory jurisdiction over “waters of the United States,” but the meaning of “waters of the United States” was left undefined by the Act. For decades, courts have wrestled with the proper scope of these words. In 1985, the Court broadly construed the phrase as including wetlands adjacent to traditional navigable waters in Michigan in United States v. Riverside Bayview Homes. In 2001, the issue was again before the Court in Solid Waste Agency of N. Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. There, the Court found that isolated, non-navigable intra-
Disclaimer–This blog post is really detailed. If you’re not into all the nerdy legal technicalities, I’d read the Background, Summary of WOTUS Rule v. NWPR, and What Happens Now and go on about your day.
I
f you have been around for a while, you know we have been following the saga surrounding the definition of “Waters of the United States” or “WOTUS” for several years. On April 21, 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency published the Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR), the newest regulatory definition of WOTUS. [Read Rule at www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-202004-21/pdf/2020-02500.pdf] The NWPR became effective on June 22, 2020 across the United States, with the exception of Colorado, where a federal judge entered an injunction pending litigation. For a deeper dive into the NWPR, visit
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state ponds used by migratory birds were not covered by the CWA. In making this finding, the Court stated that the difference between this case and Riverside Bayview Homes was the lack of a “significant nexus” between the ponds and the navigable waters. Finally, in 2006, the Supreme Court decided (in a plurality opinion on 4 justices) Rapanos v. United States, holding that waters of the United States covered “relatively permanent, standing or continuously flowing bodies of water” connected to navigable waters. The opinion noted that this did not necessarily exclude streams, rivers or lakes that might go dry in extraordinary circumstances like a drought. A concurring opinion by Justice Kennedy would have defined “waters of the United States” by applying the “significant nexus standard.” In 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and US Army Corps of Engin e er s (CO E) under th e O b ama Administration passed a regulation, referred to as the WOTUS Rule, defining “waters of the United States.” Numerous lawsuits filed and resulted in various injunctions around the country. In 2017, President Trump issued an Executive Order instructing the agencies to “rescind or revise” the 2015 definition and “consider interpreting” waters of the
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