On January 31, 2018, the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of the Army  finalized a rule adding an applicability date to the 2015 Rule defining “waters of the United States.” The final rule is available here and was published in the Federal Register on February 6, 2018. Since then, the U.S. District Courts for the District of South Carolina and the Southern District of Washington enjoined and vacated the 2018 Rule. Please visit “Definition of ‘Waters of the United States’: Rule Status and Litigation Update” for updates regarding the status of this rule.

The EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt, along with Mr. Ryan A. Fisher, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, signed the following proposed rule on November 16, 2017. The proposed rule published in the Federal Register on November 22, 2017. The public comment period closed on December 13, 2017. Comments are being loaded to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2017-0644.  The agencies have also prepared a memorandum for the record to provide the public with information about the potential economic impacts associated with this action. This memorandum, "Consideration of Potential Economic Impacts for the Proposed Rule: Definition of 'Waters of the United States' – Addition of Applicability Date to 2015 Clean Water Rule," is also available in the docket.

• Proposed Rule: Definition of “Waters of the United States” – Addition of Applicability Date to 2015 Clean Water Rule (PDF)(6 pp, 255 K)
• Memorandum to the Record: Consideration of Potential Economic Impacts for the Proposed Rule: Definition of “Waters of the United States” – Addition of Applicability Date to 2015 Clean Water Rule (PDF)(3 pp, 122 K)