EPA moves to narrow protections for U.S. waterways, reversing Biden
The Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday that it will narrow the definition of U.S. waterways – including wetlands, rivers and streams – that receive federal protections under the Clean Water Act.
The announcement kicks off a yearslong rulemaking process that could limit the reach of the Clean Water Act, passed in 1972 to protect all “waters of the United States” from harmful pollution. The Biden administration had expanded the law’s scope in an effort to curb the flow of pollutants including livestock waste, construction runoff and industrial effluent.
Environmental groups have argued that a broad definition of “waters of the United States” is crucial to restoring the health of degraded waterways and wildlife habitats across the country. But business groups have long complained that legal confusion over the definition has created regulatory chaos for landowners, farmers, ranchers and home builders.
“We are pursuing a definition that is simple, that is durable, and it will withstand the test of time,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said during a Wednesday event at the agency’s headquarters with Republican lawmakers and business leaders.
“Our goal in going through this process is not to be an activist,” Zeldin added. “This is to simply follow the rule of law, to follow the Constitution, to listen to the stakeholders and to make the right decision for the American people.”
Zeldin said the EPA would work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which also regulates the discharge of dredged materials into protected waterways, to solicit public input and craft a new regulation.
Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., said at the event that the Biden and Obama administrations caused chaos and confusion for farmers and ranchers with even tiny waterways on their properties.
“It’s not every mud puddle that they should regulate,” LaMalfa said. “If you can float a rubber duck in it for a half-hour after the rain, that does not mean this is something they can regulate.”
The Supreme Court in 2023 weakened the EPA’s power to enforce the Clean Water Act. The court’s conservative majority ruled that the law “extends to only those wetlands with a continuous surface connection to bodies that are ‘waters of the United States’ in their own right” – a definition that environmentalists said would remove millions of acres of waterways from federal oversight.
The definition of “waters of the United States,” or WOTUS, has sparked fierce legal and political battles for more than a decade.
In 2015, the Obama administration widened the law’s scope to cover even ephemeral streams and ponds. North Dakota, Wyoming and other states challenged the rule in court, leading a federal judge to pause its implementation.
During President Donald Trump’s first term, the EPA repealed the Obama-era rule and in 2019 created a new, weaker one. The Biden administration then tried to strike a balance in 2023 by undoing the Trump-era rule and redefining the law’s scope as “traditional navigable waters,” including interstate waterways.
Andrew Wetzler, senior vice president of the nature program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group, criticized the latest change announced Wednesday.
“Trump’s EPA is moving to radically restrict protections for our waterways and wetlands,” Wetzler said in a statement. “With this change, EPA is doing the bidding of polluters – taking an extreme approach that will leave communities across the country vulnerable to more pollution, flooding and environmental harm.”
Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, a powerful farm group, praised the move, which comes as many farmers face uncertainty due to Trump’s tariffs and trade decisions.
“This is a first big step in a very difficult farm economy that gives farmers and ranchers hope – hope that good things are going to happen in the future,” he said.