The Nickel Report

The definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) establishes the geographic reach of the Clean Water Act (CWA), including the Section 404 permitting program. The Supreme Court set the parameters within which the agencies may treat aquatic features as WOTUS when it decided Sackett v. EPA. In November 2025, the US Environmental Protection Agency and US Army Corps of Engineers issued a WOTUS proposed rule to implement Sackett. Last month, the agencies issued a supplemental proposed rule “to supplement and seek additional comment on certain aspects” of the 2025 proposal. In this post, we examine how the 2025 Proposed Rule and 2026 Supplemental Proposed Rule line up with the findings of Sackett.

The Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) outbreak is affecting virtually every sector of society and the economy. The healthcare sector and government agencies are on the front lines of the response. Providing support to these critical response activities as well as striving to maintain the strength of the overall economy by continuing regular business operations is vitally important. The private sector has important roles to play. The purpose of this blog post is to briefly outline some practical and legal tools available to help provide both direct support and maintain broader economic activities while ensuring environmental protection and compliance with natural resource laws.

This blog post will be updated as new or relevant information becomes available.