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NAEP Webinar: Regulations and Rulings | WOTUS
Monday, January 30, 2023, 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EDT
Category: Webinars

2023 NAEP Regulations and Rulings Webinar Series

EPA/US Army Corps of Engineers’ Final Rule: Revised Definition of “Waters of the United States”

January 30, 2023 11:00 AM (PT) | 2:00 PM (ET) 

Part one of a three-part series. This webinar has passed, but you can still register for the series to access the recording and the remaining 2 webinars.  

Register for the Series

Pricing 

NAEP Members: Free
Chapter Members & Non-members: $100

Learn more about the full Regulations and Rulings series!


About

On 18 January 2023 the United States Army Corps of Engineers’ and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Revised Definition of “Waters of the United States” was published in Federal Register Vol. 88, No. 11. The Final Rule, which defines what waters are protected by/subject to the Clean Water Act (CWA), becomes effective nationally on 20 March 2023. As stated in the summary: In developing this rule, the agencies considered the text of the relevant provisions of the Clean Water Act and the statute as a whole, the scientific record, relevant Supreme Court case law, and the agencies’ experience and technical expertise after more than 45 years of implementing the longstanding pre-2015 regulations defining “waters of the United States.” 

As previously announced, NAEP has been awaiting the formal publication of the Final Rule since fall 2022 and, as planned, will now host a webinar led by a panel of experts that will provide an informative and concise summary of the WOTUS definition’s technical, legal, and regulatory history. More importantly, they will analyze and discuss both the technical differences between the Final Rule and the current, pre-2015 WOTUS definition and the impact on the regulated community that is likely to result. The Final Rule’s effect on the natural resource the CWA was created to protect will also be considered, along with the potential impacts of the SCOTUS’ Sackett v. EPA opinion, which is anticipated to be delivered this spring.

NAEP has selected three expert panelists to summarize the Final Rule’s meaning, from the perspectives of the updated WOTUS’ technical definition, its changes to federal regulatory oversight, as well as the likely litigative entanglements that are certain to quickly follow. 

The panelists will provide their insight, which has evolved from decades of wide-ranging professional WOTUS experience. Collectively, on behalf of the public, private and regulatory sectors, they have mapped and documented the location and extent of WOTUS in the field, permitted WOTUS impacts in the office, and litigated disputed interpretations of both in the courtroom for over half a century. While the initial portion of the webinar will be a Final Rule summary, the latter portion will be an open discussion, with registrant participation not only encouraged, but expected. 

Please join NAEP for this timely and informative event, focused on how the soon-to-be-implemented changes to one of the United States’ most significant environmental regulations may impact the nation.


Panelists

Ward Marotti
Director: Land and Water Resources
Spangler Environmental, Inc.  

Ward Marotti has been involved in the successful implementation and management of ecological restoration project planning, design, implementation, oversight, and monitoring for over 30 years. In addition to Ward’s extensive natural resource assessment and restoration experience, he has completed hundreds of public and private environmental compliance and permitting projects, including Clean Water Act 404/401 Individual and Nationwide permitting, NEPA and SEPA EAs and EISs, water quality and riparian buffer variances, Endangered Species Act Section 7 and 10 impact permits and conservation plans, protected species relocation plans, and watershed use re-classifications. Ward is the Past President of the National Association of Environmental Professionals’ North Carolina Chapter. He currently serves on the newly affiliated South Carolina Chapter’s inaugural board as its representative on NAEP’s national Board of Directors. In January 2023 Ward was elected as an at large member of NAEP’s national Board of Directors.

Peter McGrath
Member
Moore&VanAllen

Peter provides environmental counsel to clients across a broad spectrum of industries. He advises lenders, real estate developers, property managers, manufacturers, landfill operators, renewable energy developers, lenders and investors, and life sciences companies. He also helps clients comply with environmental law, providing regulatory advice in a wide variety of substantive areas, including solid and hazardous waste, coal ash management, stormwater and wastewater water discharges, air emissions, wetlands, chemical regulation, environmental remediation, and occupational safety and health. 

Peter has successfully managed the environmental aspects of hundreds of corporate, financing, and real estate transactions, working in conjunction with other practice areas within the firm. That management includes conducting and coordinating environmental due diligence for target companies and properties, retaining and managing environmental consultants to investigate and quantify known and potential liabilities, counseling clients on environmental liabilities and risk allocation, drafting and negotiating the environmental provisions of transaction documents, assisting in the procurement of environmental insurance and other risk-mitigating solutions, and managing the post-closing resolution of environmental issues. Peter also advises real estate developers through all aspects of North Carolina’s brownfields redevelopment program, from application and assessment, through negotiation of the documents required for the program, to public notice and recording, and post-development tax benefits.

Carland Holstead, PWS
Senior Environmental Practice Builder
Kimley-Horn

Carland brings 12 years of professional regulatory agency and consulting experience in natural resources accompanied by a broad educational background that has included the study of marine biology, environmental planning and policy, coastal resilience and sustainability as well as natural resources management. Carland performs and provides expertise in wetland determinations/delineations, threatened and endangered species compliance assessments, and associated federal and local permitting. He provides expertise in writing and reviewing technical reports pursuant to NEPA including CEs, EAs, and EISs for a wide variety of agencies. He also writes reports and prepares appropriate permitting documentation pursuant to the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Rivers and Harbors Act. He prepares compensatory mitigation plans and USACE Section 404/Section 10 Permits.

Prior to joining Kimley-Horn, Carland gained experience working directly for the Regulatory Branch of the USACE. During his tenure, he evaluated Section 404 and Section 10 permit applications for impacts to Waters of the U.S. (WOUS). He also performed jurisdictional determinations, significant nexus evaluations, verified wetland delineations, and assisted with special projects and external outreach. Prior to working for the USACE, Carland worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as a Biological Technician and Rigs-to-Reef Program Monitor in the Gulf of Mexico. Carland has provided services to private industry and public sector clients both locally and throughout the nation.  

 

Part one of a three-part series. This webinar has passed, but you can still register for the series to access the recording and the remaining 2 webinars.

 

Register for the Series

Learn more about the full Regulations and Rulings series!