Final Rule Defining Waters of the US Released

Today the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers released a final rule defining waters of the United States (WOTUS), which sets the bounds of federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act.

In November, NASF provided comment to the agencies on the proposed rule and Arkansas State Forester Joe Fox testified before the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry concerning impacts of the proposed rule on forestry.

Congress continues to take a strong interest in the rule and we will be closely watching efforts in Congress to stall implementation or require the agencies to restart the rulemaking process.

The NASF Legislative Committee will be carefully reviewing the final rule as we understand that some significant changes have been made from the proposed rule. The final rule, along with additional information and press statements from EPA and Army Corps, is available in a pre-publication version on the EPA website at http://www2.epa.gov/cleanwaterrule.

With questions, please contact Brent Keith at bkeith@stateforesters.org.


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