On January 5th, 2026, ASLA officially opposed the proposed rule to redefine "Waters of the United States" (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act. The rule was proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. ASLA alongside eight state wildlife federations, and dozens of local and regional nature-based organizations in signing a joint public comment letter opposing the rule.

In August 2023, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Sackett in Sackett v. EPA. The court held that only waters that have a "continuous surface connection" to key rivers and lakes that affect commerce are protected by the Clean Water Act. This ruling significantly reduced the number of wetlands protected by federal law, giving states the power to decide how much protection the wetlands need. Per ASLA, over 59 million acres of wetlands were threatened by this ruling.

 
The EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are proposing a new definition of WOTUS to comply with the Supreme Court's Sackett ruling. The agencies intend to increase Clean Water Act predictability and consistency with this new definition, as well as provide greater regulatory certainty, while respecting state and tribal authority over land and water resources.

The proposed rule reaffirms:
• Defining key terms like "relatively permanent," "continuous surface connection," and "tributary" to appropriately delineate the scope of WOTUS consistent with the Clean Water Act and Supreme Court precedent;
• Establishing that jurisdictional tributaries must connect to traditional navigable waters either directly or through other features that provide predictable and consistent flow;
• Reaffirming that wetlands must be indistinguishable from jurisdictional waters through a continuous surface connection, which means that they must touch a jurisdictional water and hold surface water for a requisite duration year after year;
• Strengthening state and tribal decision-making authority by providing clear regulatory guidelines while recognizing their expertise in local land and water resources;
• Preserving and clarifying exclusions for certain ditches, prior converted cropland, and waste treatment systems; Adding a new exclusion for groundwater; and
• Incorporating locally familiar terminology, such as "wet season," to help determine whether a water body qualifies as WOTUS;
• In addition, the limitation to wetlands that have surface water at least during the wet season and abut a jurisdictional water will further limit the scope of permafrost wetlands that are considered to have a continuous surface connection under the proposed rule. These proposed changes are intended to provide clarity and consistency to the continuous surface connection definition.

However, according to ASLA, this new definition reduces the federal protections of wetlands far beyond the requirements outlined by the court in Sackett v. EPA. In the joint public comment letter, ASLA states, "Now is the time to strengthen clean water protections, not weaken them... We hope the EPA and the Corps will take seriously their obligation under the law to protect our nation's waters, communities, and public health."