This week, member of the Western Governors Association expressed concern to the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that a proposed rule clarifying protections under the Clean Water Act for streams and wetlands was developed without sufficient consultation with states and could impinge on state authority.
The concerns were delivered to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works), in a letter signed by Western Governors’ Association Chairman Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and WGA Vice Chairman Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval.
Western Governors assert that “as co-regulators of water resources, states should be fully consulted and engaged in any process that may affect the management of their waters.” However, “the conversations to date have not been sufficiently detailed to constitute substantive consultation” and that “Western Governors strongly urge both EPA and the Corps to engage states as authentic partners in the management of Western waters.”
The Western States Water Council, in a separate letter on the proposed rule, also notes that “the western states continue to have concerns about EPA’s and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ coordination efforts, and request extensive interaction with the individual states and the state agencies that deliver and implement the CWA.”