WOTUS rewrite delayed a year

Buried in the Spring 2018 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions report—put out seasonally by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs—was a notice that the deadline to rewrite of the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule was pushed back by almost a year. The new timeline will require the notice of proposed rulemaking by the end of August 2018 and the final rule by the end of September 2019. Previously, the EPA had indicated that a final rule was expected by the end of this year. There continue to be ongoing lawsuits and legislative efforts related to the withdrawal of the 2015 WOTUS rule. Ten states’ attorneys general are suing the EPA, claiming the withdrawal violated the Administrative Procedures Act. — WLJ