The EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers published the final Clean Water Rule in the Federal Register on June 29. Based on the official publication date, the rule will be in full effect on August 28, 2015. However, with official publication of the final rule also came the ability to file legal challenges, which have been coming in droves since the rule’s publication. Lawsuits filed in several federal courts in the initial week after publication count 27 states among the plaintiffs challenging the Clean Water Rule under a variety of statutes as an overreach of federal authority. These state-backed lawsuits, additional expected lawsuits from a wide variety of stakeholders, and further congressional action on the Clean Water Rule warrant close watching leading up to the rule’s August 28 effective date (and beyond) and could still have a significant impact on the rule’s implementation timeline.
Additional background materials supporting the Clean Water Rule are available at EPA’s Clean Water Rule website.