Overview
- EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin unveiled a draft rule that narrows federal jurisdiction to relatively permanent waters and wetlands with a continuous surface connection to them.
- The proposal defines key terms such as “relatively permanent,” “continuous surface connection,” and “tributary,” and specifies that regulated tributaries must have a consistent flow and identifiable bed and banks.
- Exclusions are preserved or clarified for groundwater, runoff, certain ditches, waste treatment systems, and previously converted cropland, and the rule incorporates local concepts like a defined wet season.
- The agencies opened a 45‑day public comment period and plan two hybrid public meetings to gather input before finalizing the definition.
- Major farm groups praised the move as regulatory clarity while environmental advocates warned it would strip protections from many wetlands and small streams, with an EPA–Army analysis indicating only about 19% of mapped wetlands would remain covered and state protections varying widely.