Magazine

Legislation & Regulation

Legislative and Regulatory Update

January 2022 by Scott Harn

• WOTUS definition is changing again
It seems that the definition of “Waters of the United States” changes every four years or so, and we now have another proposal from the Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA to revise the definition yet again to increase restrictions on land owners under the guise of “Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis.”

You can view the latest proposed changes online at https://www.regulations.gov/document/EPA-HQ-OW-2021-0602-0001. Public comments are due by February 7, 2022.

• BLM HQ on the move again
Tracy Stone-Manning, the former member of eco-terrorist group Earth First and now confirmed director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), announced she is moving forward with plans to return BLM headquarters from Grand Junction, Colorado to Washington, DC.

Former BLM acting director William Perry Pendley had moved much of the hierarchy out of DC, relocating staff and supervisors at field offices throughout the Western States and at the new HQ in Colorado, putting them closer to the public lands they oversee and the public they serve. The move out west was also a huge cost savings for taxpayers due to the much lower cost of living as compared to DC.