EPA Asks States for Input on New WOTUS Rule
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Published
5/11/2017
With the proposal to withdraw the Waters of the U.S. rule under review by the White House Office of Management and Budget, the Environmental Protection Agency is asking states to share with the agency what they think a new rule should look like.
EPA and the U.S. Army sent a letter to state governors on May 9 asking them for input on a new definition of protected waters that is in line with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s opinion in the 2006 Rapanos v. United States case. Scalia’s definition explains that federal oversight should extend to “relatively permanent” waters and wetlands with a “continuous surface connection” to large rivers and streams. Farmers and ranchers welcomed EPA’s outreach.
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