On December 19, 2016, Joel Beauvais, the Deputy Assistant Administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Water announced the release of a new website that tracks all Clean Water Act jurisdictional determinations made since August 28, 2015, the effective date of the “Waters of the U.S.” rule. The website was created in conjunction with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and displays both positive and negative jurisdictional determinations.
The Army Corps of Engineers issues jurisdictional determinations to answer whether a particular property does or does not contain “waters of the United States.” Oil and natural gas operations that are conducted on such properties may necessitate a Clean Water Act permit. On June 29, 2015, the Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA published a final rule defining the scope of waters protected under the Clean Water Act. The final rule was stayed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on October 9, 2015 pending judicial review.