Waters of the United States

Peter Van DorenThe Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers recentlyannounced the official repeal of an Obama administration definition of which streams, wetlands, rivers, and lakes are under the jurisdiction of the federal government for purposes of the Clean Water Act. Under the Act, “polluters” must obtain permits for discharge of substances into “navigable waters.” Implementation of the law requires a definition of “pollution” and “navigable waters.” Congress provided a definition and examples of pollution but was less helpful about “navigable waters,” defi ning them simply as “waters of the United States.”Ever since the enactment of the Clean Water Act in 1972, the lack of definitional clarity in the statute and ambiguity about what constitutes a “water of the United States” has resulted in a legal struggle over the limits of federal authority to regulate pollution discharges into water. Jonathan Adler’sarticle in the Summer issue ofRegulation summarizes the convoluted history of the struggle over the regulatory definition of “waters of the United States” and provides a framework for evaluating the proper role of states and the federal government in water pollution control.Many environmentalists believe that broad assertions of federal regulatory authority increase environmental benefits and less federal authority results in environmental degradation.The New York Times, for example,said that the repeal of the Obama adm...

Source: Cato-at-liberty - September 24, 2019 Category: American Health Authors: Peter Van Doren Source Type: blogs