Federal Agencies Will Revise WOTUS Rule to Comply With Supreme Court Ruling by ACWA Staff Jun 29, 2023 Water News WASHINGTON, D.C. –The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) recently announced their plan to revise the Biden Administration’s “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule and issue a new final rule by Sept. 1. The new rule is meant to comply with the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Sackett v. EPA. This revised final rule will not be subject to public comment. The Biden WOTUS rule was originally published on Jan. 18, with the effective date of March 20. However, due to various court challenges, the rule is currently effective in less than half of the states. The Biden rule covers adjacent wetlands if they meet either the “relatively permanent” or “significant nexus” tests set forth in the 2006 U.S. Supreme Court case Rapanos v. United States. Post-Sackett, the “significant nexus” test is out. The Supreme Court narrowed federal jurisdiction over wetlands to only those with a continuous surface connection with larger navigable water bodies. As a result of the Sackett ruling, the Corps has temporarily halted determining whether streams and wetlands proposed for development fall under federal jurisdiction as WOTUS. It is unclear how the agencies will regulate wetlands and waterways between now and September. ACWA staff previously submitted comments on the rulemaking and continues to track developments. More information on the final rule, can be found on EPA’s website.