This week, an editor at Bloomberg News called our colleague Larry Liebesman about the Endangered Species Act and how the Trump Administration’s proposed Waters of the US (WOTUS) rule and the Supreme Court’s 2023 Sackett  ruling will impact development and infrastructure permitting. Larry has an extensive background on ESA legal issues, having spent 10+ years as a Justice Department environmental litigator and professor in environmental law at George Washington Law School. He

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being touted as either a tool that can be used to help make things easier for humanity, or as the future Skynet  destroying civilization.  Applying AI to help the US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) improve wetland permit application processing will likely not result in the destruction of civilization, but an incorrect permit, maybe processed using AI, could lead to further erosion of trust in the federal government.   Perhaps more alarming, mos

On January 7, the US Army Corps of Engineers Regulatory Program re-issued its streamlined Nationwide Permits (NWP) rules that are critical for oil pipelines, highways and other projects that affect wetlands and streams. The new rules (download PDF below) also expand eligibility to data centers. These NWP rules will be effective on March 15, 2026 and remain in effect for five years. The goal is to allow infrastructure projects having minimal adverse effects on water quality to

On November 20, 2025 EPA published a proposed Rule defining Waters of the United States (WOTUS) with a final Rule changing the WOTUS definition likely in 2026. Based on EPA’s proposed Rule, proposed legislative NEPA changes, and implementation of recent Supreme Court decisions, 2026 will be a year of federal environmental policy uncertainty.  Our colleague Ed Fleming spoke about this at a seminar in September (prior to the proposed Rule being published) sponsored by Burns & M

On November 17,  the EPA  and Army Corps of Engineers issued a proposed rule  to revise the definition of “waters of the United States" consistent with the Supreme Court's Sackett v. EPA   decision. My colleagues and I at Dawson & Associates have analyzed the WOTUS issue extensively ( here , here  and here ).  In the coming weeks, we will address aspects of the Proposed Rule but what follows is an initial WOTUS analysis. Clean Water Act.  The Proposed Rule limits the reach of