On April 21, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Army (Army) published the Navigable Waters Protection Rule in the Federal Register Links to an external site. to finalize a revised definition of “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act. For the first time, the agencies have streamlined the definition so that it includes four simple categories of jurisdictional waters, provides clear exclusions for many water features that traditionally have not been regulated, and defines terms in the regulatory text that have never been defined before. Congress, in the Clean Water Act, explicitly directed the Agencies to protect “navigable waters.” The Navigable Waters Protection Rule regulates the nation’s navigable waters and the core tributary systems that provide perennial or intermittent flow into them. Please read and review the new rule, discuss the pros/cons for agriculture. Last, how does this impact you, your organization, and/or family?
Navigable Waters Protection Rule
https://www.epa.gov/wotus
