Rapid Changes to Water Quality and Wetlands Regulation

Developments in water quality regulation include a draft plan by the federal government to make waters twice as clean by 2015, which could result in increased restrictions on discharges. At the state level, Illinois EPA is seeking comments on its proposal to change the criteria by which it lists waters as impaired in a manner that could increase the number of impaired waters while making it harder to get off the list. Illinois EPA has also announced its intention to continue with TMDLs for nutrient-impaired waters.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency decided that it will not follow through on a planned rulemaking to clarify the scope of wetlands jurisdiction following the Supreme Court’s decision in Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (SWANCC). U.S. EPA’s announcement is another in a series of judicial and administrative losses by landowners. Landowners can, however,