Re-definition of "Waters of the United States" under Clean Water Act Proposed

Re-definition of "Waters of the United States" under Clean Water Act ProposedThe U.S. Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency published a notice on July 27, 2017 in the Federal Register to modify the regulation defining "waters of the United States" pursuant to the Clean Water Act. The proposed change is as a result of the President's order of February 28, 2017.As stated in the notice: "The proposal retains exclusions from the definition of ‘‘waters of the United States’’ for prior converted cropland and waste treatment systems, both of which existed before the 2015 regulations were issued. Nothing in this proposed rule restricts the ability of States to protect waters within their boundaries by defining the scope of waters regulated under State law more broadly than the federal law definition."The notice of proposed rule change may be found at this link:https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2017-07-27/pdf/2017-13997.pdf