Industry, Environmental Advocates Agree Rule Needed to Address Water Act Jurisdiction

A rulemaking, not guidance, would best address how to determine which waters are subject to Clean Water Act jurisdiction and would provide more consistency for industry and regulators, both proponents and opponents of expanding current interpretations on federal jurisdiction agreed June 28.

“EPA and the [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers] have got it backwards. Instead they should do a rulemaking followed by a guidance,” said industry attorney Lawrence Liebesman, a partner in the Washington, D.C., law firm Holland & Knight, during an Environmental Law Institute seminar. The session focused on assessing jurisdiction under guidance proposed May 2 by the Environmental ...