The Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have issued a new guidance document that they hope will clear up some of the considerable confusion over the scope of federal wetlands jurisdiction in light of the U.S. Supreme Court 2006 Rapanos decision. The revised guidance, released on Dec. 2, replaces a July 2007 version, which critics claimed created more fuzziness than clarity in defining which wetlands are subject to Clean Water Act permitting requirements.
The high court’s ruling in Rapanos v. U.S. said that although federal jurisdiction does extend beyond strictly “navigable waters,” other areas in which jurisdiction may be unclear need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Some industry groups said that the EPA-Corps 2007 guidance produced more ambiguity and led to excessive delays in permitting.