A new Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule was announced this week by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It narrowed the scope of the rule based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Sackett case, but agricultural groups are disappointed that, once again, the revised rule doesn’t significantly reduce government overreach.

It’s a missed opportunity and fails to bring fairness to farmers and ranchers, American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) said.

“EPA had a golden opportunity to write a WOTUS rule that’s fair to farmers and stands the test of time, but instead chose to continue government overreach and revise only a small slice of the rule that was rejected by the Supreme Court,” AFBF President Zippy Duvall said.

The agencies eliminated the “significant nexus” standard to determine when waters or wetlands are covered by the Clean Water Act.

“We’re pleased the vague and confusing ‘significant nexus’ test has been eliminated as the Supreme Court dictated,” Duvall said. “But EPA has ignored other clear concerns raised by the Justices, 26 states and farmers across the country about the rule’s failure to respect private property rights and the Clean Water Act. Farmers and ranchers share the goal of protecting the resources they’re entrusted with. They deserve a rule that respects farmers as partners in that effort.”

The agencies removed the term “interstate wetlands” to align with the Sackett decision.

“The court concluded that the use of the term ‘waters’ refers to such ‘open waters’ and not wetlands,” the final rule says. “As a result, under Sackett, the provision authorizing wetlands to be jurisdictional simply because they are interstate is invalid.”

They are also revising the definition of “adjacent wetlands,” to align with the Supreme Court’s decision. In its place now is language that says “adjacent means having a continuous surface water connection.”

EPA and the Corps decided to issue the revised rule without public notice and comment, saying they had “good cause” to skip public input.

“Because the sole purpose of this rule is to amend these specific provisions of the 2023 rule to conform with Sackett, and such conforming amendments do not involve the exercise of the agencies’ discretion, providing advance public notice and seeking comment is unnecessary,” the agencies said.

The rule will take effect upon publication in the Federal Register.

EPA and the Corps plan to hold a webinar Sept. 12 on the amendments to the rule.

WOTUS is still enjoined in Texas and 26 other states, blocking implementation of the rule.