The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers have published a final rule to repeal the 2015 Clean Water Rule: Definition of ‘‘Waters of the United States’’ (2015 Rule). The rule will amend portions of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), and restore the regulatory text that existed prior to the 2015 Rule.
The agencies will implement the pre-2015 Rule regulations informed by applicable agency guidance documents and consistent with Supreme Court decisions and longstanding agency practice.
The agencies are repealing the 2015 Rule for four primary reasons. First, the agencies have concluded that the 2015 Rule did not implement the legal limits on the scope of the agencies’ authority under the Clean Water Act (CWA) as intended by Congress and reflected in Supreme Court cases, including former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s articulation of the significant nexus test in Rapanos v. United States.
Second, the agencies concluded that in promulgating the 2015 Rule the agencies failed to adequately consider and accord due weight to the policy of the Congress in CWA section 101(b) to ‘‘recognize, preserve, and protect the primary responsibilities and rights of states to prevent, reduce, and eliminate pollution’’ and ‘‘to plan the development and use . . . of land and water resources.’’ 33 U.S.C. 1251(b).
Third, the agencies repealed the 2015 Rule to avoid interpretations of the CWA that push the envelope of their constitutional and statutory authority absent a clear statement from Congress authorizing the encroachment of federal jurisdiction over traditional State land use planning authority.
Lastly, the agencies concluded that the 2015 Rule’s distance-based limitations suffered from certain procedural errors and a lack of adequate record support. The agencies found that these reasons, collectively and individually, warranted repeal of the 2015 Rule. With this final rule, the regulations defining the scope of federal CWA jurisdiction will be those portions of the CFR as they existed before the amendments promulgated in the 2015 Rule. This rule will take effect on Dec. 23, 2019.
