Local Officials Eye Options To Preserve Powers Over EPA Clean Water Guide

摘要

State and local officials are weighing their options for how they may be able to preserve local land use and other authorities that they fear may be stymied by EPA's recently released draft guidance clarifying when discharges to isolated wetlands and other marginal waters are subject to Clean Water Act (CWA) requirements. While the officials are still considering proposals for how they may be able to preserve their decisionmaking, a source with the National Association of Counties (NACo), a group that represents local officials, said the group's "overriding concern is preserving local governing authority," which has always been a legislative priority for the organization. The source says this drove opposition to previous attempts by Congress to change the definition of "waters of the U.S.," which, like EPA's draft guidance, would also have expanded the scope of the CWA.