RLI Advocacy Center: Legislative Land Real Estate News

EPA and Department of the Army Seek Comments on Definition of Waters Of The United States (WOTUS)

By Russell Riggs

On December 7, 2021, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers issued a notice of proposed rule defining “the waters of the United States” (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act.

A detailed summary of the proposed rule and its implications is available to read online HERE and to download HERE.

EPA and the Corps hosted three virtual public hearings to provide an overview of the proposed rule and provide an opportunity for the public to provide oral comments in response to the proposed rule. The public hearings were January 12, January 13, and January 18, 2022.

In advance of the public hearings, we prepared these message points.

Comments on the proposed rule were due February 7, 2022.

We prepared this template letter for RLI members to personalize and submit as comments to the EPA.

RLI submitted the comments available to view/download here.

For questions, please contact me at rriggs@nar.realtor or 202-383-1259.

About the Author

Russell Riggs is RLI's Government Affairs Liaison and is a Senior Policy Representative, Environmental & Admin Regulatory Reform, Advocacy Group, for the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, based in Washington, DC. Russell works with NAR's Land Use and Property Rights Committee and the Resort and Second Homes Committee. He holds a bachelor's in Political Science from Virginia Commonwealth University, a master's in Public Policy from Tufts University, and a master's in Public Administration from New York University.