The Executive Order On The WOTUS Rule: Will It Really Reduce Regulatory Uncertainty?

On Tuesday, President Trump issued another executive order on the environment, this time directing EPA to revisit the EPA rule defining Waters of the United States under the Clean Water Act. It's a curious order, for a number of reasons.

First, Section 1 of the EO states as "Policy" that "minimizing regulatory uncertainty" is in the national interest. Well, the purpose of the WOTUS rule was pretty much to reduce the regulatory uncertainty surrounding the definition of WOTUS. The rule may not have succeeded perfectly, but does anyone really think that the purpose of the order is to reduce uncertainty? It's pretty clearly intended simply to reduce jurisdiction.

Second, in revisiting the definition of WOTUS, the EO states that EPA: