The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is moving toward the next milestone in its WOTUS rulemaking calendar — the deadline that will trigger the next formal step in redefining "waters of the United States" under the Clean Water Act. The agency's framing, circulated in a Brownfield Ag News headline, casts the effort as a push for "regulatory certainty."

What does the rule control?

WOTUS defines the geographic reach of Clean Water Act permitting and enforcement. Operators in agriculture, construction, mining, energy, and waste management use the definition to determine whether a discharge, fill, or dredge activity at a given site requires a Section 404 dredge-and-fill permit or a Section 402 NPDES permit.

Each change in scope reshapes compliance costs, project timelines, and the volume of permit work flowing to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers district offices. For the recycling and materials-handling sector, the definition governs stormwater controls at scrap yards, e-waste processors, composting facilities, and transfer stations whose sites contain or abut intermittent channels, drainage features, or wetlands.

Where does this sit in the rulemaking sequence?

The current WOTUS rulemaking follows the May 2023 Supreme Court ruling in Sackett v. EPA, which narrowed federal jurisdiction over wetlands adjacent to traditionally navigable waters. EPA's 2023 conforming rule removed the significant nexus test from the operative definition and limited federal authority to wetlands with a continuous surface connection to covered waters.

"Regulatory certainty," the framing Brownfield Ag News applies to EPA's stated goal, typically signals an effort to:

• Lock in a narrower post-Sackett definition
• Reduce the volume of "waters of the United States" determinations on individual parcels
• Limit the scope of approved and preliminary jurisdictional determinations issued by the Corps

Why does the rule keep cycling?

WOTUS has been redrafted, litigated, and partially vacated four times since 2015, leaving regulated industries operating under shifting definitions of federal water jurisdiction. The 2015 Clean Water Rule, the 2019 repeal-and-replace, the 2020 Navigable Waters Protection Rule, and the 2023 conforming rule each reset the scope of "waters of the United States" for operators across the country.

That pattern is the backdrop for EPA's "regulatory certainty" framing. Each reset has required operators to re-evaluate permitting obligations, re-file jurisdictional determinations, and re-train compliance staff. The cost of that churn — in legal fees, permit backlogs, and project delays — is what industry groups cite in calling for a stable definition.

What is industry watching?

For operators, the operative questions are which tributaries and adjacent wetlands remain federally regulated, what the cost of a new jurisdictional determination will be, and how the agencies will treat "relatively permanent" and "continuous surface connection" standards going forward.

The recycling and waste sector in particular tracks the definition because it sets the threshold for stormwater permits at materials-recovery facilities, scrap yards, composting operations, and transfer stations. A narrower definition eases permitting on sites that no longer require federal review; a broader definition forces more operators into Section 402 coverage and into multi-agency coordination.

What happens next?

The next deadline — the trigger for the next formal step in the rulemaking sequence — is the milestone that decides whether the timeline holds or slips. The deadline is the only concrete date the regulated community can plan around.

The agencies will move from the current pre-proposal stage toward either a proposed rule or an interim final rule, depending on how the next internal review proceeds. The regulated community will then have a comment window before any new definition takes effect.