In Focus: Regulating the Waters of the United States

The US House of Representatives has passed a motion to nullify the Biden administration’s recent expansion of the Clean Water Act’s “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule. The US Supreme Court also is slated to rule on Sackett v. US Environmental Protection Agency in the coming months, which may also change the definition of the WOTUS rule. Why is this rule at the center of so much discussion in all three branches of the US federal government? Hannah Druckenmiller, a fellow at Resources for the Future, discusses the recent history of the WOTUS rule and why it continues to be controversial.