The seventh annual Executive Branch Review Conference took place on May 8, 2019, at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington DC. The seventh and final panel covered "The Trump Administration's Proposed Redefinition of 'Navigable Waters': Too Much, Too Little, or Just Right?"
In December 2018 the Trump Administration released a long awaited proposal to revise the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers regulations that define “navigable waters" under the Clean Water Act. Versions of these regulations have engendered controversy for decades, over whether the Act itself authorizes the agencies to regulate non-navigable wetlands and tributaries. The Obama Administration adopted regulations in 2015 that remain the subject of a number of lawsuits. Upon taking office, President Trump ordered the agencies to reconsider the 2015 regulations. The December 2018 proposal would narrow the coverage of the Act in significant ways, but would continue to regulate categories of non-navigable waters, including some wetlands potentially far afield of flowing streams, and some drainages that carry very little flow over brief periods of time. This panel will provide a high level review of the legal issues and policy trade-offs reflected in the new proposal.
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As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speakers.
Featuring:

Hon. Jeffrey Clark, Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division
Mr. Jon Devine, Director, Federal Water Policy, Water Division, Nature Program, Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.
Mr. Tony Francois, Senior Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation
Moderator: Prof. Jonathan H. Adler, Johan Verheij Memorial Professor of Law, Director, Center for Business Law & Regulation, Case Western Reserve University School of Law
Introduction: Andrew Varcoe, Partner, Boyden Gray & Associates