Supreme Court Rules Against EPA Water Authority, Questions Current WOTUS Rule

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its long-awaited opinion in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which challenged the EPA’s authority to regulate wetlands and their connection to waters of the U.S. (WOTUS). NRMCA commends the court for ruling in favor of Sackett, which stated that EPA’s authority under the Clean Water Act (CWA) “extends to only those wetlands with a continuous surface connection to bodies that are ‘waters of the United States’ in their own right,” so that they are 'indistinguishable' from those waters.” The court effectively narrowed EPA’s WOTUS jurisdiction by asserting that for a water to be considered WOTUS, it must have a clear, continuous and indistinguishable connection to a traditional navigable water. This is counter to the current WOTUS definition issued by the Biden Administration which relies on EPA making a determination of wetlands and other waters simply being “adjacent” to WOTUS, but may not be clearly connected.

The court’s ruling provides greater clarity for what is and is not WOTUS, thus allowing the ready mixed concrete industry to more clearly know when and where it can operate in compliance with the CWA and absent an EPA judgement. The ruling is a long-awaited and welcome decision advocated for, and supported by NRMCA. NRMCA anticipates and welcomes EPA working promptly to amend its current WOTUS definition to align with the court’s decision. Developments on this front are being monitored and advocated by NRMCA and its industry partners.

Click here to review the court’s order. For more information, contact Kevin Walgenbach at kwalgenbach@nrmca.org.