WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Friday took another step toward stripping federal protections from millions of acres of wetlands, which help filter drinking water for many communities and provide critical habitat for birds, fish and other wildlife.

The proposed rule from the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would significantly narrow the definition of “waters of the United States,” or WOTUS, that are protected from harmful pollution under the Clean Water Act of 1972.

The new version is more sweeping than an initial proposal released in November, which would have removed federal protections from fewer wetlands nationwide. The plan would deliver a victory to farmers, ranchers and rural landowners who have chafed at the protections, calling them an infringement on their property rights.

“Under President Trump’s leadership and the Army’s ‘Building Infrastructure, Not Paperwork’ initiative, we are overhauling sclerotic government overreach to remove friction from our economy,” Adam Telle, the official overseeing the Army Corps of Engineers, said in a statement.

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he was appointing Telle to take over as the acting Army secretary, replacing Daniel Driscoll, who resigned after clashing repeatedly with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The Clean Water Act requires companies and individuals to obtain a permit from the EPA before releasing pollutants into the nation’s waterways. They must also receive a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before discharging any dredged or fill material, such as sand, silt or construction debris.

A Supreme Court decision in 2023 set the stage for the Trump administration’s proposal by sharply curtailing the EPA’s power to police waterways. In the majority opinion in Sackett v. EPA, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the Clean Water Act allowed the agency to regulate only “relatively permanent” bodies of water and wetlands connected to them.

But Alito did not explicitly define a “relatively permanent” body of water. The absence of a clear definition caused confusion for farmers and landowners, who were unsure whether they needed a permit before building on their properties near wetlands, lakes and streams.

In the proposal released in November, the Trump administration defined a “relatively permanent” body of water as one that flowed either every day or during the “wet season.” The proposal Friday would define it instead as one that flowed every day except for temporary interruptions like droughts lasting less than 30 days.

That change may sound highly technical, but it could have far-reaching consequences, potentially stripping federal protections from 94% of U.S. wetlands, according to a preliminary analysis by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.

“Finalizing this proposal would be declaring open season on the nation’s waterways,” said Jon Devine, the director of freshwater ecosystems at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The initial November proposal could have removed protections from 81% of U.S. wetlands, Devine estimated. He added that very few wetlands abut other bodies of water that flow every day, with the exception of a handful of coastal wetlands influenced by tides.

In addition to wetlands, the new plan could end protections for at least one-third of the more than 3.5 million miles of streams in the United States, said Jim Murphy, the associate vice president of legal advocacy at the National Wildlife Federation, another environmental group.

“This will remove protections for virtually all streams in the West and other arid parts of the country,” Murphy said in an email, noting that few, if any, streams flow every day in the Southwest, where a megadrought has persisted for more than two decades.

But Zippy Duvall, the president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, an agricultural lobbying group, said the new plan would end regulatory headaches for farmers and ranchers.

“The new WOTUS rule provides a clear understanding of federal jurisdiction, which is critical for farmers who may face severe penalties or even jail time for unknowingly violating the law,” Duvall said in a statement.

Brandon Farris, the executive vice president of the Steel Manufacturers Association, said in a statement that the plan would also end “regulatory whiplash” for companies that have invested billions of dollars in building new steel mills near waterways.

The EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers will solicit public comments on the proposal for 30 days before finalizing it.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Maxine Joselow/Andrew Mangum
c. 2026 The New York Times Company