The incoming Biden administration will almost certainly make review of the Trump EPA's waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule a priority, but legal precedent and the complexity involved in defining WOTUS make it uncertain as to whether any regulatory changes can occur quickly, a former EPA official and other experts say. Matthew Leopold, who served almost three years as the Trump EPA's general counsel before stepping down in September, said during a Nov. 16 environmental law event that "we are going to see a ping-ponging of a number of regulatory positions reversed under President-elect Joe Biden's administration compared with the Trump EPA. And the WOTUS rule is "no doubt" one that will be revisited, he said. But Leopold noted several differences in federal courts' response to the Trump Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction rule compared with the Obama administration's 2015 rule that it replaced, and said, "The next EPA has to reckon with what has happened" and it "can't just flip the rule."
展开▼
