The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has signaled that it could narrow which set of waters receive protections under the Clean Water Act.

The law requires the EPA to protect so-called “waters of the United States” but there has been significant political back-and-forth as to which bodies of water that should include.

In a press release on Wednesday, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin criticized the Biden administration’s definition, saying it “placed unfair burdens on the American people and drove up the cost of doing business.”

The agency said that it, along with the Army Corps of Engineers, would “move quickly to ensure that a revised definition follows the law, reduces red-tape, cuts overall permitting costs, and lowers the cost of doing business in communities across the country while protecting the nation’s navigable waters from pollution.”

Under the last Trump administration, the EPA sought to limit protections to waters that eventually slow into a “navigable” water – in practice excluding a significant number of wetlands and streams from Clean Water Act protections.

The Biden administration issued its own rules that were expected to broaden protections to some degree – however, it was also restricted by a 2023 Supreme Court ruling which limited which waters can receive protections. 

If a water is protected under the Clean Water Act, businesses and others who want to dump waste into the water need a permit from a federal or state agency in order to do so. The government can decide not to allow dumping into such bodies of waters or put restrictions on doing so.

The EPA’s Wednesday announcement received praise from Republicans, who said a revised definition would be good for businesses. 

“I commend EPA and USACE for taking this first step to carefully provide the clarity landowners, farmers, businesses, and local governments have been asking for by refining the scope of WOTUS without excessive overreach,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.) in a statement. 

However, environmental advocacy groups expressed concern. 

“Weakening the Clean Water Act threatens safe, reliable drinking water for tens of millions of Americans, and could drastically increase water treatment costs for farmers,” said Tom Kiernan, president and CEO of American Rivers, in a statement. “Our rivers were literally on fire prior to the Clean Water Act and any step back to those days, any step to limit what water sources receive protections, is a step in the wrong direction.”