EPA Eyes Next Steps To Clarify WOTUS, Groundwater Permitting Policies

摘要

EPA is weighing its next steps on two major Clean Water Act (CWA) policies, issuing guidance documents with the Army Corps of Engineers to clarify their joint waters of the United States (WOTUS) jurisdiction rule, and exploring what type of guidance to issue on a landmark Supreme Court groundwater ruling, says a top agency official. David Fotouhi, who is EPA principal deputy general counsel, spoke about the WOTUS rule and the justices' groundwater ruling in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund during an Aug. 20 American Bar Association webinar on the scope of CWA jurisdiction. The Trump administration has touted its WOTUS regulation as providing greater clarity on CWA jurisdiction compared to a broader Obama-era version because of what administration officials say is a focus on four clear categories of jurisdic-tional waters rather than needing case-by-case decisions based on site-specific factors.