Revised Definition of Waters of the United States Response to Comments Document Introduction

Revised Definition of "Waters of the United States"
Response to Comments Document

INTRODUCTION

This Response to Comments Document, together with the preamble to the final rule on a Revised
Definition of "Waters of the United States," presents responses of the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency and U.S. Department of the Army (together, "the agencies") to the comments received on the
proposed rule, 86 FR 69372 (Dec. 7, 2021).

In developing the final rule, the agencies reviewed approximately 114,000 comments received on the
proposed rule from a broad spectrum of interested parties. Commenters provided a wide range of
feedback on the proposal, including: the legal basis for the proposed rule; the agencies' proposed
treatment of categories of jurisdictional waters and those features that would not be jurisdictional; the
Economic Analysis and Technical Support Document for the proposed rule; and the need for a clear and
implementable rule that is easy for the public to understand. The agencies fully considered these timely
comments and addressed all significant issues raised therein, including by revising the rule to improve the
clarity, implementability, and durability of the definition.

To prepare this document, the agencies grouped comment summaries by topic across a total of eighteen
sections. The agencies then developed responses to the comments summarized in each topic. In this
document, the agencies' responses appear in bold text.

The responses presented in this document respond to comments that are not otherwise addressed in the
preamble to the final rule and, in some instances, supplement the preamble's responses to key issues
raised in comments. Although portions of the preamble to the final rule are paraphrased in this document
where useful to add clarity to responses, the preamble itself is the definitive statement of the agencies'
rationale for the final rule. To the extent a response in this document could be construed as in conflict
with the preamble or the final rule, the language in the final rule preamble and regulatory text controls
and should be used for purposes of understanding the scope, requirements, and basis of the final rule.

In many instances, responses presented in this Response to Comments Document include cross-references
to responses on similar or related issues located in the preamble to the final rule, the Economic Analysis
for the Final Rule, the Technical Support Document for the Final Rule, and/or other sections of the
Response to Comments Document.

Accordingly, this Response to Comments Document, together with the preamble to the final rule, the
Economic Analysis for the Final Rule, the Technical Support Document for the Final Rule, and the rest of
the administrative record should be considered collectively as the agencies' response to all of the
significant comments submitted on the proposed rule.

Revised Definition of "Waters of the United States" - Response to Comments Document

Introduction

-------