Regulatory Alerts

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) announced an amended rule on August 29, 2023, defining waters of the United States (WOTUS) that conforms with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. EPA issued on May 25, 2023.

As stated in EPA’s factsheet, the amended rule:

Effective August 21, 2023, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has relisted the cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl (pygmy-owl) as a threatened species with a Section 4(d) rule under the Endangered Species Act. The rule prohibits take of the pygmy-owl, except for take arising from certain conservation and monitoring activities.

On April 20, 2022, CEQ issued the Phase 1 Final Rule, which finalized limited changes to restore regulatory provisions that the 2020 CEQ rulemaking modified or removed. CEQ also indicated that they would issue a future Phase 2 of CEQ rulemaking. On July 28, 2023, this much anticipated release of Phase 2 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was released. Not surprisingly, proposed Phase 2 rulemaking includes direction specifically related to the recent revisions to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) included with the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.