NAR: WOTUS Review a Win for Property Owners
NAR President Kevin Sears joins EPA chief Lee Zeldin for the announcement of the review and a promise of “clear and simplified direction” for landowners.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement Wednesday that it will simplify the definition of the Waters of the United States rule (WOTUS) is a win for property owners, says National Association of REALTORS® President Kevin Sears.
Sears joined the newly appointed EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and other stakeholders at the agency’s Washington, D.C. headquarters for the March 12 announcement.
Zeldin vowed “to move quickly to ensure that a revised definition follows the law, reduces red tape, cuts overall permitting costs, and lowers the cost of doing business in communities across the country while protecting the nation’s navigable waters from pollution.”
WOTUS definition in flux
The Clean Water Act of 1972 gives the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers jurisdiction over “navigable waters of the U.S.,” but the meaning of that phrase has been open to interpretation and the subject of numerous court challenges.
“Rewriting the [WOTUS] rule has become something of a rite of passage for U.S. presidents, with every president since George W. Bush taking a stab at getting it right,” NAR Director of Commercial Policy and Oversight Erin Stackley wrote for CREATE Magazine in 2022.
“An overly broad definition may require owners to submit to an expensive and time-consuming federal permitting process to develop private property with any wet area—not just properties with navigable interstate waters or that are adjacent to a wetland. The definition can even render property as unusable,” Stackley noted in the article. “The result is effectively a taking without adequate compensation, which is proscribed under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.”
Successful defense of property owners
In recent years, NAR joined successful challenges to the Biden Administration’s WOTUS definition, mostly notably in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency. In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court considered the case and ruled that wetlands are not per se “waters of the United States” and that WOTUS applies only to waters with a continuous surface connection to traditional navigable waters.
NAR’s position has remained consistent, says the association’s Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy Officer Shannon McGahn. “Clean water is essential to a healthy environment, a growing economy, and vibrant neighborhoods. NAR supports voluntary, market-based solutions that enhance the quality of water resources and protect property rights, while minimizing unnecessary regulations, costs and uncertainty for property owners and buyers.”
A track record of active engagement and bipartisanship ensures NAR members have a voice in policy debates, regardless of who is in office.
"I appreciate EPA extending an invitation for the WOTUS announcement,” Sears says. “It shines a light on our consistent and productive working relationship with the EPA and now with the new administrator. NAR has long advocated for clear, fair, and lasting definitions of WOTUS that protect both our nation’s waters and the rights of property owners. NAR will continue to engage at every step to ensure regulatory clarity for property owners, businesses and communities nationwide."
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