On September 16, 2026, the House overwhelmingly passed the Water Resources Development Act of 2026 (WRDA) by a bipartisan vote of 415–9. In the Senate, the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee unanimously approved its version of the bill on July 15, 2026 and is currently awaiting full floor consideration. WRDA is a biennial bill that typically authorizes a variety of water infrastructure such as inland waterways, ports and harbors, flood protection, and other Corps of Engineers projects.
Tag: EPA
EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers are seeking additional comment on their proposed "waters of the U.S." (WOTUS) rule by suggesting new definitions for critical terminology. The agencies proposed the new WOTUS rule in November and received more than 22,000 comments, most seeking further clarification.
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The Environmental Protection Agency this week announced it is granting more exemptions from biofuel-blending rules to oil refineries than initially expected while also seeking to soften the blow to agricultural-based fuels. The decision provides 29 full and partial small refinery exemptions (SREs) under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program. Eighteen refineries received full exemptions, while 11 received partial, three were denied and two were deemed ineligible, according to the rule.
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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued guidance this week allowing farmers and repair shops to temporarily override emission control systems for repair purposes. The guidance says procedures and tools to temporarily take products "out of certified configuration as necessary to perform maintenance and repair" are not prohibited under the Clean Air Act. While the guidance follows existing language under Clean Air Act regulations, it represents the Trump administration's foray into a debate over "right to repair" concerns of the farm community.
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The Trump Administration this week announced the release of revised regulations determining which wetlands and other bodies of water qualify as a Water of the United States and are therefore subject to federal permit requirements before construction and other land improvement activities can proceed. The rules will be jointly issued by the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers establishing, according to an EPA release, a “durable, common-sense definition of ‘water of the United States’” under the Clean Water Act. The rule seeks to codify the Supreme Court’s 2023 Sackett v. EPA decision which found that “adjacent wetlands” under the law are those wetlands that have a continuous surface connection to bodies already considered "waters of the United States.” The wetlands must be “indistinguishable” from those waters to be considered jurisdictional.
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The seemingly never ending battle to bring reasonable rules to the definition of “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) took a positive turn when EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced that the agency had worked with the Army Corps of Engineers on new guidance clarifying the WOTUS definition to comport with the U.S. Supreme Court’s Sackett decision. In 2023 the court voted 5-4 that not all wetlands should be considered a water of the United States and therefore subject to the regulations implementing the Clean Water Act. Zeldin also announced a comment period to solicit input for developing a final rule.
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Its been a few months since we talked about WOTUS. In January 2023, the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finalized a new WOTUS rulemaking that replaced the 2020 navigable Waters Protection Rule. In their new rule, the agencies doubled down on the unworkable “significant nexus test” and created more risk and uncertainty for farmers and other landowners. The Farm Bureau and other allies sued the EPA and the Corps over the 2023 WOTUS Rule. District Court rulings have prevented the 2023 Rule from going into effect in 27 states. The litigation is still ongoing, but a May 2023 Supreme Court decision in Sackett v. EPA forced EPA and the Corps to make revisions to their 2023 Rule.
In September, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released two joint coordination memorandums on jurisdictional determinations 1) under the 2023 waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule (as amended in September) and 2) under the “pre-2015 regulatory regime” that is in effect in the 27 states where the Biden Administration’s rule is on hold. The memos outline similar processes for coordination, wherein EPA plays an active role. Neither memo provides insight on how the agencies will determine jurisdiction nor how they will implement the relatively permanent test.
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Well more than half the wetlands in the United States are threatened by the Supreme Court’s Sackett decision, an EPA water official said on a webinar Wednesday.
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Much has been shared concerning the Farm Bureau’s perspective on Waters of the US (WOTUS) but the construction industry has actively raised their concerns with various proposals and court actions.
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