EPA, Corps extend WOTUS comment period

The Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have extended the deadline from Aug. 28 to Sept. 27 for public comments on a proposed rollback of the definition of the waters of the United States. The agencies say they are responding to stakeholder requests for an extension to the public comment period.

In July the agencies announced a proposal to roll back the WOTUS definition to a version predating the definition introduced by the Obama administration in 2015.

The WOTUS definition is controversial because it determines the scope of water bodies and wetlands that are subject to federal permitting requirements. The scope of the definition, therefore, determines the extent to which federal jurisdiction can impinge on state jurisdiction over water impacting activities.

The definition introduced in 2015 caused considerable controversy because of its broad scope. This definition included, not just navigable waterways that could support interstate commerce subject to federal oversight, but also tributaries of those waterways and other features such as adjacent wetlands. The argument in favor of this broad view revolves around the potential for contamination in any of these various water-bearing entities to reach the more navigable water bodies.

The rollback comes as the first step towards complying with an order by President Donald Trump to develop a less broad version of the WOTUS rule and forms part of the president’s policy to cut back on federal regulation of business and industry. The issue is particularly sensitive in Alaska because of the state’s myriad rivers, streams, lakes and wetlands.

- ALAN BAILEY