Stakeholders are setting out early markers of their goals for EPA's new Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction rule, with industry pointing to the late Justice Antonin Scalia's narrow standard as an easily applied, "bright-line" test the government should adopt, while defenders of the Obama-era policy say only a broad federal rule will protect water quality. During a Sept. 19 teleconference listening session — the first of 10 sector-specific calls EPA plans to host — representatives of "small entities" including businesses, environmental groups and local governments laid out their requests for how EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers should proceed, with industry groups that have long sought a narrow standard focusing on the need for a "clear" rule with few judgment calls left to regulators.
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