WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES
While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) continue to work through the two-step process of repealing and revising the definition of “waters of the United States,” the Federal District Courts continue to hammer out the legality of actions by the Administration.
Last month, Judge Norton of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina in Charleston ruled that the 2015 WOTUS rule can go into effect in the 26 states not currently covered by injunctions from district courts in North Dakota and Georgia. Fortunately, Florida is covered by the injunction in the Georgia Federal District Court therefore the WOTUS rule is not currently in effect in Florida.
EPA and the ACOE are expected to submit and publish a notice of proposed rulemaking for the revised WOTUS definition. In November, the agencies will publish a final rule on repeal of the 2015 rule and the reinstatement of prior regulatory definition and begin to seek comments for a proposed revised WOTUS rule. The agencies are then expected to publish a final rule on the revised WOTUS definition in September of 2019.
