GOP Governors Ask Biden Administration To Delay Water Rule

As Connecting the Dots reported at the time, on December 30, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final regulation, called Waters of the United States (WOTUS), that, when implemented, will govern the country’s wetlands and waterways. Specifically, the regulation defines which waters get federal protections that would require businesses to obtain a permit for activities like construction that could damage water quality — and which do not.

The final rule restores the standard that was in place prior to 2015 under the Clean Water Act (CWA) for traditional navigable waters, territorial seas, interstate waters, and upstream water resources that significantly affect those waters.

Last week, the Republican Governors Association (RGA) called on the Biden administration to delay implementation of the revised rule until the Supreme Court rules this summer in a case pertaining to the CWA. (That upcoming decision, Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, will determine whether most wetlands and streams can be considered waters of the United States under the CWA.)

The governors argued implementing the most recent revision would create new bureaucratic hurdles at the state level before the nation’s highest court potentially renders them moot. Indeed, the governors said the Supreme Court case “could significantly impact the final rule and its implementation” and argued that “to change the rule multiple times in six months is an inefficient and wasteful use of state and federal resources” that “will impose an unnecessary strain on farmers, builders, and every other impacted sector of the American economy.”

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