03.12.25

Hoeven: Trump Administration to Reverse Biden WOTUS Overreach, Provide Regulatory Relief & Certainty

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven today issued the following statement after Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced an effort to restore the traditional definition of “waters of the U.S.” (WOTUS), reversing the Biden administration’s regulatory overreach and bringing the WOTUS rule in compliance with the Supreme Court’s Sackett v. EPA ruling from 2023. The Trump administration will undertake rulemaking to reduce the regulatory burden, provide certainty and ensure the rule is limited to navigable waters, consistent with the Clean Water Act.

“The Clean Water Act is clear about what constitutes the ‘waters of the U.S.’ Despite this, both the Biden and Obama administrations sought to extend their reach well past federal law to impose burdensome and costly permitting on our farmers, energy producers and construction industry, to name a few,” said Hoeven. “We’ve been pushing back on this expanded WOTUS rule for years, advancing legislation to block its implementation and defund the regulation, while supporting efforts to fight it in court. We welcome today’s announcement to roll back the latest iteration of WOTUS and look forward to working with the Trump administration to ensure North Dakotans’ concerns are addressed as this rule is brought back into line with federal law.”

This follows Hoeven’s longtime efforts to push back on the expanded WOTUS rule advanced by the Biden and Obama administrations, which would have imposed unworkable mandates, burdensome new permitting requirements and compliance costs on landowners, energy and agriculture producers and other industries. Accordingly, the senator:

  • Helped introduce a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution of disapproval, which Congress passed, to rescind the expanded WOTUS rule. The resolution was subsequently vetoed by President Biden.
  • Helped introduce legislation in the 117th Congress to codify the first Trump administration’s Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR), which replaced the 2015 Obama WOTUS rule.
    • Hoeven previously worked to advance the NWPR, following his efforts to defund WOTUS in 2015 and 2016 and prevent its implementation.
  • Joined his colleagues in submitting an amicus brief in Sackett v. EPA, urging the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) to preserve state authority to regulate local waters and lands.
  • Pressed the EPA and the Army Corps to suspend rulemaking on WOTUS until SCOTUS completed its consideration of Sackett v. EPA.

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