EPA seeks more public comments as it struggles to devise water rule that
limits scope on wetlands
[September 05, 2026]
By MATTHEW DALY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking
additional public comments as it tries to redefine the scope of the
nation’s bedrock clean water law to significantly limit the wetlands it
covers.
The request, announced Friday, comes nearly a year after the agency
proposed a rule defining "waters of the United States," or WOTUS, based
on a 2023 Supreme Court ruling that removed federal protections for vast
areas. The plea for new information is highly unusual and reflects the
complexity of the water rule, a contentious regulation that has been
argued in the courts for decades and reached the Supreme Court twice
since 2006.
The latest proposal is a “supplemental” rule that EPA said will help it
and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers evaluate a wider range of options
as they work toward a final rule that fully implements the Supreme
Court’s decision in a case known as Sackett v. EPA.
The 2023 ruling sharply limited the federal government’s authority to
police water pollution in certain wetlands. It boosted property rights
over concerns about clean water in a ruling in favor of Michael and
Chantell Sackett, an Idaho couple who sought to build a house near a
lake.
The new rule, once made final, will cut “bureaucratic red tape” and
protect water quality while “recognizing that states and tribes are best
positioned to manage their own water resources,” the EPA said.
The rule will provide greater predictability for landowners, farmers,
ranchers, energy producers, the technology sector, developers and small
businesses, the agency said. The measure will focus on relatively
permanent, standing or continuously flowing bodies of water, such as
streams, oceans, rivers and lakes, along with wetlands that are directly
connected to such bodies of water.
"The EPA’s goal is a durable WOTUS definition that follows the law and
ends burdensome regulatory uncertainty,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin
said in a statement.
The request for additional comment “reflects our continued commitment to
transparency and public input, ensuring we have fully considered a wide
range of potential policy options,” he added. "We look forward to public
feedback on this supplemental notice, which will help strengthen the
real-world expertise behind the final rule.”
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The sun sets over a salt marsh Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, in Charleston,
S.C. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel, File)
The November proposal to rewrite the water rule is among dozens of
environmental regulations being rolled back by Republican President
Donald Trump's administration as part of what Zeldin calls a
concerted effort to accelerate economic prosperity while putting “ a
dagger through the heart of climate change religion.” Critics call
the planned water rule a giveaway to ranchers and industrial
polluters.
“The Trump EPA’s shortsighted push to encourage industries to plow
over more wetlands and streams will destroy thousands of miles of
waterways critical to wildlife across the United States,” J.W.
Glass, a policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity,
said when the plan was announced last year.
The proposed rule will most likely “wipe out life-sustaining
waterways in every corner of the nation,” Glass said, and leave vast
stretches of wetlands and other low-lying areas vulnerable to
increasingly destructive storm surges driven by climate change.
The EPA's proposal “declares open season” on the nation's waterways,
according to Jon Devine, director of freshwater ecosystems at the
nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council.
“The proposal would virtually eliminate protection for freshwater
wetlands” and especially hurt the western United States, he said.
Zeldin disputes that argument, saying the agency's proposal strikes
a needed balance between federal and state authority. Any lands
removed from federal jurisdiction will still face regulation from
states and tribes, he said.
The EPA and Army Corps will accept public comments for 30 days once
the supplemental plan is published in the Federal Register, expected
in the next week. The agencies have held three public meetings on
the proposed rule, which has generated more than 220,000 comments
from a wide range of stakeholders.
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