Environmental Protection Agency director Lee Zeldin speaks at a news conference Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Matthew Daly)

CHARLESTON — Gov. Patrick Morrisey, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, and Attorney General J.B. McCuskey praised the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for taking action on a bill aimed at protecting wetlands that some say goes too far.

Morrisey and McCuskey were in Washington, D.C., Monday afternoon with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announcing proposed changes for the “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule, which defines what streams, wetlands and waterways are protected by the Clean Water Act.

“This is a monumental step toward protecting our farmers and developers, while continuing to protect our waterways in this country,” McCuskey said in a prepared statement. “WOTUS has become an example of government overreach at its worst, stifling production and creating uncertainty in West Virginia and nationwide. I am thankful to Administrator Zeldin and the Trump Administration for taking on this challenge to roll back this burdensome rule and for doing so with a measured, common-sense approach that respects both our environment and our economy.”

The proposed update to the 2023 WOTUS definition would clarify the scope of federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act. The updated rule would provide a clear and legally defensible definition of WOTUS; reduce regulatory burdens and associated costs for farmers, landowners, and businesses; and restore a balance between federal and state authority by empowering states and tribes to manage their local water resources.

Zeldin, who was just in West Virginia with Capito, R-W.Va., last week wrapping up a tour of all 50 states, said WOTUS is the one issue that has been brought up in each state he has visited.

“There’s no topic that came up more during my travels than the need for a revised definition of Waters of the United States,” Zeldin said. “I know that across the country news of today’s proposal is going to be met with a lot of relief and happiness from farmers, ranchers, other landowners, and governments that have been looking for a simple prescriptive definition that the whole country can operate off of.”

In May, the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers held a listening session in Charleston to solicit public comment toward making changes to the WOTUS rule. In a statement Monday, Capito praised the EPA for taking in the concerns of West Virginians in crafting the updated rule.

“I applaud the Trump EPA’s proposed rule to make the regulatory definition of waters of the United States consistent with the text of the Clean Water Act,” said Capito, the chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “This proposal takes an important step toward providing a clear and legally sound framework that aligns with the Supreme Court’s Sackett decision and right-sizes federal jurisdiction.”

The proposed WOTUS rule is designed to fully implement the direction given by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Sackett v. EPA by focusing federal authority on relatively permanent, standing or continuously flowing bodies of water and connected wetlands.

West Virginia — when Morrisey was attorney general — was part of a 26-state coalition supporting the Sackett family.

“I know that there’s been a decades-long effort to put new standards in place, and there was aggressiveness from these unelected bureaucrats defining these terms,” Morrisey said. “That’s how these decisions got made. They were terrible. It was a textbook example of federal overreach.”

Key changes in the proposed rule update include defining terms like “relatively permanent,” “tributary,” and “continuous surface connection,” while also proposing the removal of interstate waters from jurisdictional categories and excluding groundwater and certain types of ditches and prior converted cropland.

Environmental groups, such as the Waterkeeper Alliance, raised a number of concerns about the proposed rule update.

“Every rollback threatens the water we drink, the rivers we fish, and the wetlands that protect our communities and ecosystems,” said Kelly Hunter Foster, a senior attorney for the Waterkeeper Alliance.

The next steps for the proposed rule include being published in the Federal Register, which will begin a 45-day public comment period. The EPA also plans to host additional public meetings before finalizing the rule.