Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan told Congress this week he won’t go back to the Obama era definitions of the Waters of the U.S. rule. National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Chief Environmental Counsel Scott Yager, whose group fought 2015 WOTUS legislatively and in the courts is encouraged by the EPA Administrator’s remarks and hopes he goes forward with that stance.

He expects the EPA to look at both the 2015 Obama WOTUS rule and former President Trump’s Navigable Waters Protection Rule and make sure they don’t conflict with prior court decisions.

Yager says he’s not only encouraged by the Administrator’s WOTUS remarks but also by conversations he’s had with other agency officials including the nominee to head up EPA’s water division.

Yager says it’s also positive that the EPA administrator pledged to begin a stakeholder engagement process that includes agriculture and environmental groups to find a way to move forward.