Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced today that EPA will work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to revise the definition of the Waters of the United States.

At a news conference surrounded by Republican members of Congress, Zeldin said that the Trump administration wants to write a revised definition that “follows the law, reduces red tape, cuts overall permitting costs, and lowers the cost of doing business in communities across the country while protecting the nation’s navigable waters from pollution.”

Zeldin said that the Trump administration wants to write a practical rule that will follow the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency and not be a “ping pong” in court decisions anymore. But whether the Trump administration can achieve that is questionable, because previous definitions of WOTUS by Republican and Democratic administrations have been subject to court cases for years.

“We want clean water for all Americans supported by clear and consistent rules for all states, farmers, and small businesses,” Zeldin said in a news release. “The previous administration’s definition of ‘waters of the United States’ placed unfair burdens on the American people and drove up the cost of doing business. Our goal is to protect America’s water resources consistent with the law of the land while empowering American farmers, landowners, entrepreneurs and families to help power the great American comeback.” 

In a statement in the same news release, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said, “USDA supports EPA’s revisions to WOTUS that provide certainty and recognize the key role that agriculture plays in protecting our natural resources. We’ll keep pushing for policies that let producers focus on what they do best — feeding, fueling and clothing our nation.”

Senate Agriculture Chairman Committee John Boozman, R-Ark.; Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.; Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa; Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala.; Western Caucus Chairman Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif.; and Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., along with American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall, spoke at the news conference, saying the action would remove the uncertainty that has plagued farmers.

SACKETT

The news release said, “The definition of ‘waters of the United States’ guides Clean Water Act implementation, including whether farmers, landowners and businesses must secure costly permits before they can pursue a project. To date, EPA has failed to follow the law and implement the Supreme Court’s clear holding in Sackett. It is critical that Americans know which waters are subject to federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act to grow our economy and lower costs for American families while protecting human health and the environment.

“EPA’s review will be guided by the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, which stated that the Clean Water Act’s use of ‘waters’ encompasses only those relatively permanent, standing or continuously flowing bodies of water forming streams, oceans, rivers and lakes. The Sackett decision also clarified that wetlands would only be covered when having a continuous surface connection to water bodies that are ‘waters of the United States’ in their own right.

“EPA will start its review by expeditiously obtaining input from stakeholders who were sidelined during the previous administration. The agency will seek targeted information on the key challenges that Americans are facing. The agency will also undertake a rulemaking process to revise the 2023 definition of ‘waters of the United States’ with a focus on clarity, simplicity and improvements that will stand the test of time. While this rulemaking process proceeds, the agency will provide guidance to those states implementing the pre-2015 definition of ‘waters of the United States’ to ensure consistency with the law of the land.”

Stacy Woods, research director for the Food and Environment Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said, “The Trump EPA is giving a green light for industrial agriculture to further pollute and drain valuable wetlands that currently provide substantial benefits to communities, including flood protection and clean drinking water. Big ag interest groups like the Farm Bureau pretend to represent small family farms when they are really working for giant industrial agricultural companies who could not care less about draining, polluting and flooding rural America in service of their bottom line. Missing from this conversation are the voices of farmers who are invested in being good stewards of their land and who are actually part of the rural communities that benefit from wetlands.”