Dive Brief:

• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency have come up with a draft rule to define where the Clean Water Act applies to development and construction proposals.
• The draft is at the Office of Management and Budget for review and is not yet public.
• Expanding the areas where the Act applies would mean more permits and reviews for projects.

Dive Insight:

No one outside the Corps and the EPA has seen the draft, but a blog post by two acting assistant EPA administrators on the agency official "EPA Connect" site say that the draft relied in part on a study of scientific research and that it said intermittent wetlands and small waterways definitely affect downstream water quality. That connection argues for Clean Water Act jurisdiction, and that would likely increase time and cost for projects developers and contractors want to put in or near those places.