Waters of the United States: New December 30, 2022 Rule
At the end of 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Army announced a final rule establishing a durable definition of “waters of the United States.” The final rule restores essential protections that were in place prior to 2015 under the Clean Water Act for traditional navigable waters, the territorial seas, interstate waters, and upstream water resources that significantly affect those waters.
The new definition provides welcome clarification of which features are considered jurisdictional. The test for “jurisdictionality” now relies on two factors: significant nexus and relative permanency.