EPA, Corps’ Waters rule withdrawal signals clear regulatory scheme

Source: National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Alexandria, Va.

NRMCA Compliance & Operations staff calls the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers’ full withdrawal of the Obama Administration’s Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule “another win for the concrete industry” and “a welcome step toward finalizing a balanced, consistent and clear regulatory scheme for determining federal jurisdiction” over natural resources. 

The association ardently opposed the measure, rolled out in 2014-15, citing the prospects for compliance complications surrounding even the most negligible bodies of water, and has tracked litigation resulting in stays of the rule covering 28 states. Withdrawal is part of the Trump Administration’s two-step plan for repealing and revising WOTUS regulations. NRMCA and its industry partners will continue to communicate with EPA to ensure any new revised rule is clear, concise and adheres to sound regulatory principles with equitable enforcement. In the interim, the agencies will implement pre-2015 regulations affecting streams, creeks, rivers, lakes, ponds and other bodies of water specifically covered in the Clean Water Act. Agency observers anticipate issuance of a final rule in December 2019. 

 

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