Taking Notice of WOTUS: A Home Building Industry Perspective

On June 29, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
published a final rule that changes the regulatory definition of “waters of the United States”
for the first time in nearly 30 years. The new rule expands federal jurisdiction under the Clean
Water Act and introduces new concepts and definitions that will be burdensome to home builders,
decrease housing affordability, and do little to protect the environment.