EPA and the Department of the Army issue Amended Final Rule Defining WOTUS

rick.savage • Sep 01, 2023

On August 29, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Army announced a final rule that amends the January 2023 definition of “waters of the United States" (WOTUS). The amendments conform the January 2023 definition to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett and will take effect immediately upon publishing in the Federal Register (likely to happen within two weeks). To read the pre-publication version of the revised final rule, go to Pre-publication Version of the Final Rule - Amendments to the Revised Definition of Waters of the United States (epa.gov).

While exact details are yet to be digested, the gist of the ruling is becoming clear. First, the significant nexus rule has been eliminated; so isolated wetlands are not jurisdictional wetlands, meaning they are not protected under the Clean Water Act. Second, the new rule requires visual evidence of a continuous surface flow between a wetland and navigable water. This part of the rule can get complicated as to what constitutes visual evidence of continuous surface flow. I am sure that this will cause a lot of confusion and some developers will say there is no continuous surface flow and impact the wetland with a permit.

Suffice it to say, this puts wetlands in North and South Carolina in jeopardy. The NC Department of Environmental Quality has estimated about 2.5 million acres of wetland have lost protection in North Carolina and I am sure a similar number in South Carolina. The NC legislature could have continued to protect these wetlands; however, the recently passed Farm Bill eliminated state protection of isolated wetlands. 

We all need to brace ourselves for a lot of wetland loss and they are the very resource we need to protect our communities from flooding.  I think it is reasonable to expect more communities to get flooded, to have less clean water, and to have reduced climate resilience as well as miss the many other benefits that our wetlands provide.

So go out an explore a wetland (before it gets developed?).

< Older Post Newer Post >

Happy American Wetlands Month

By rick.savage • 29 Apr, 2024

May: Celebrating Wetlands in the Carolinas

Annual NC WRRI Conference

By rick.savage • 30 Mar, 2024

Carolina Wetlands Association Makes an Impacts at the Annual NC WRRI Conference

March 2024 highlights the benefits of wetlands

By chase.bergeson • 29 Mar, 2024

Wetland monitoring is important not only for the data we collect, but also to provide hands on education about why wetlands matter. Wetlands can provide so many benefits to humans and the environment, including creating habitat , flood reduction , filtering out pollution , settling sediment, storing carbon, recharging aquifers that we rely on for drinking water, and providing recreation opportunities for humans ! While not every wetland provides all of these services, this March we experienced many of these benefits during our monitoring visits. Habitat Wetlands provide important habitat for many species. This spring we conducted amphibian surveys at each of our sites and saw lots of amphibians! Wetlands are very important for the lifecycles of many amphibians who live in them, rely on them for food and habitat, or use them as nurseries to lay their eggs and protect their young. Unlike lakes and streams, ephemeral wetlands are not wet year-round. The periodic drying of surface water in these wetlands prevents them from being habitat for fish which may eat young salamanders. Our spring wetlands made a great nursery for amphibians and provide habitat for adults as well. We saw: mating American toads spotted salamander egg masses larval marbled salamanders northern cricket frogs a southern leopard frog upland chorus frogs northern dusky salamanders southern two-lined salamanders There were also several frogs that we couldn’t catch a picture of fast enough to identify. You can view our observations on our iNaturalist page .