13. Environmental Protection Agency · Major

Repeal and reissue WOTUS and CWA Section 401 regulations

Partially done

Printed page 429 13. Environmental Protection Agency

“Depending on the outcome of regulations from the Biden Administration as well as intervention by the Supreme Court on both waters of the United States (WOTUS) and CWA Section 401, the repeal and reissuance of new regulations should be pursued.”

What has happened

Sep 9, 2026 Partially done
The WOTUS half went back out for comment instead of forward to a rule. EPA and the Army issued a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking on docket EPA-HQ-OW-2025-0322 (RIN 2040-AG44), supplementing the November 2025 proposal "with additional regulatory options on certain aspects of the proposed rule" after considering the comments received. Reissuance is what the Quote asks for and neither half has been reissued: the WOTUS rulemaking is now reopened, and the Section 401 proposal of 2026-01-15 is still not final.
- EPA/Army supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking: Updated Definition of “Waters of the United States” (91 FR 57284)
  Primary Executive branch Sep 9, 2026
Jan 15, 2026 Partially done
Proposed rule updating the Section 401 water-quality-certification regulations published (comments closed 2026-02-17). Both halves of the ask are now at proposal stage; neither the WOTUS nor the 401 rule was final by 2026-08-27.
- EPA proposed rule: Updating the Water Quality Certification Regulations (CWA section 401)
  Primary Executive branch Jan 15, 2026
Nov 20, 2025 Partially done
Proposed rule replacing the 2023 WOTUS definition published (comments closed 2026-01-05).
- EPA/Army proposed rule: Updated Definition of "Waters of the United States"
  Primary Executive branch Nov 20, 2025
Mar 12, 2025 Attempted
EPA announced it would revise the 2023 WOTUS rule in light of Sackett; on 2025-07-07 it opened a docket and listening sessions on the 2023 Section 401 water-quality-certification rule.
- Administrator Zeldin Announces EPA Will Revise Waters of the United States Rule (EPA press release)
  Primary Executive branch Mar 12, 2025
- EPA notice: Establishment of Public Docket and Listening Sessions on Implementation Challenges Associated With Clean Water Act Section 401
  Primary Executive branch Jul 7, 2025

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

Federal Register API searches for “waters of the United States” and “water quality certification” as EPA final rules since 2025-01-20 return nothing; the federal records we keep and search (to 2026-08-26) hold only the two proposals. Promote to done when both are final.
Overlaps #1107 (the WOTUS half); this item owns the Section 401 trail. The shared instrument for the WOTUS half is now the 2026-09-09 supplemental proposal as well as the November 2025 NPRM; what it does to this Quote is postpone the reissuance half, since a supplemental proposal is not a reissued regulation.

Action: repeal
Object: WOTUS and CWA Section 401 regulations
ID: 1106