EPA Long-Awaited Final "WOTUS" Definition Takes Effect in June
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Earlier this week, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) released the effective date of the final rule of the long-awaited rewrite of the Obama Administration’s definition of “Waters of the United States,” also known as WOTUS. The rewrite is considered a huge win for the ready mixed concrete industry; the new rule, titled the Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR), outlines in clear terms what EPA’s jurisdiction is over what waterways within the U.S. The NWPR becomes effective June 22.
The impact to the industry is positive because it largely maintains an industry status quo of disallowing releases of process water and non-permitted stormwater into a WOTUS. The NWPR also limits the previous administration’s regulatory expansion and uses clear language allowing for water accumulations the industry may have at concrete plants to NOT be covered by the new rule. NRMCA has been continually advocating for this clarity and outcome since the finalization of the contentious Obama Administration’s WOTUS rule in 2015.
Click here for more information; here for NWPR factsheets and here to to review the final rule. You may also contact Kevin Walgenbach at kwalgenbach@nrmca.org.
