FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts
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BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown joined multi-state coalition of 18 attorneys general in sending a comment letter opposing a proposed rule by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Army Corps) that would significantly reduce federal protections for streams and wetlands nationwide.
The rule at issue – entitled the “Updated Definition of Waters of the United States” rule – would limit the scope of the “waters of the United States” that are subject to pollution discharge permits and other important safeguards under the Clean Water Act (CWA). In the comment letter, the multistate coalition asserts that the proposed rule is unlawful, represents a significant backslide in federal water quality regulation, and would result in further degradation of Maryland’s waters and waters across the country.
The CWA was intended “to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters” in recognition of the fact that waters cross state boundaries and downstream states often have no ability to regulate the pollution that may originate upstream. The CWA’s core programs include a prohibition on discharges of pollutants to “navigable waters” defined as “waters of the United States, including the territorial seas.” For decades, EPA and the Army Corps interpreted “waters of the United States” broadly to maximize federal protection of waters nationwide. The U.S. Supreme Court imposed several restrictions on that definition in its 2023 decision in Sackett v. EPA, and the EPA and Army Corps promulgated a revised definition of “waters of the United States” in September 2023 in response.
The current proposed rule would unlawfully limit “waters of the United States” in a manner that would create ambiguity and confusion, and severely hamper efforts to restore and maintain water quality. If finalized, the proposed rule would harm water quality and protection programs by removing “interstate waters” as a category of “waters of the United States,” and create irrational and legally-flawed barriers for the law to protect previously jurisdictional waters. These changes are contrary to the CWA’s purpose, sound scientific principles, and existing case law. Moreover, the proposal would inject several ambiguous terms into the definition of “waters of the United States,” such as “wet season,” that will make it both more difficult and more expensive to administer the Act.
In sending this letter, Attorney General Brown is joined by the attorneys general of California, New York, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and District of Columbia, and the City of New York.
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