EPA, Corps scrap 2015 WOTUS with repeal rule

The Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers are formally repealing the 2015 “waters of the U.S.” rule in advance of publishing a new WOTUS rule around the end of the year. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler announced the impending publication of the repeal rule, the first step in the Trump administration’s rewrite of WOTUS, on Wednesday. The action will make pre-2015 Clean Water Act regulations the law of the land. After the new administration took office, it tried to prevent implementation of the 2015 rule, but court battles in various states resulted in a patchwork of regulations: In about half the states, the Obama-era rule was in effect, while in the other half the pre-2015 regulations were.  Read more