RESOLUITON - OPPOSING RULE FOR "WATERS OF THE US" - #2014-30

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C� o l y_ -� 0 CW LEE COUNTY Committed Today for a Better Tomorrow RESOLUTION OPPOSING THE PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE RULE DEFINING "WATERS OF THE U.S." WHEREAS, the Clean Water Act (the "Act") defines and regulates waters that fall under federal jurisdiction, which are known as "Waters of the U.S.;" and WHEREAS, the Act requires a partnership between federal, state, and local governments to achieve the objectives of the Act, improving and maintaining water quality; and WHEREAS, local governments, as a regulator and permittee, have assumed an ever-increasing share of the costs towards achieving those objectives; and WHEREAS, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ("Corps") have proposed changes to the rule defining Waters of the U.S. that could significantly increase the cost and regulatory requirements for local governments and, ultimately, the costs for local residents and businesses; and ILWHEREAS, the proposed rule has no prescribed limits to federal jurisdiction and does not clearly define what waters are to be regulated by the federal government; and WHEREAS, the proposed changes effectively remove the case-by-case determinations of Waters of the U.S. using the "significant nexus" test and replace the test with physical characteristics, such as the presence of water marks, and connectivity to current Waters of the U.S. By merely meeting the requirements of the new definition, a significant nexus is found and the body of water become subject to the Act; and WHEREAS, the proposed rule modifies the current definition of `other waters" and "adjacent waters" in such a way that there is uncertainty as to how these proposed definitions would impact local governments; and WHEREAS, the changes to the rule could cause manmade ditches and storm water runoffs to be considered Waters of the U.S., which once defined as a Water of the U.S., would subject them to the Act and could increase costs to local governments; and WHEREAS, the proposed changes do not include the provision of federal funds to offset the additional costs to local governments and, thus, would divert resources from other essential public services; and WHEREAS, the United States Congress has written a letter to the EPA and Corps requesting that the proposed changes to the rule be withdrawn until further analysis can be completed; and WHEREAS, the National Association of Counties has produced a policy brief on this issue and has encouraged local governments to publicly make comments concerning the proposed changes to the IL rule; and