The Waters of the U.S. rewrite is being delayed by the government shutdown. The Environmental Protection Agency has yet to publish the rule in the Federal Register, which opens the proposal for public comment. Nebraska Cattlemen Association’s Director of Legal and Regulatory Affairs Jessica Herrmann says the EPA needs to move forward as soon as the shutdown ends.

She says the WOTUS rewrite is much better than what was proposed under the Obama administration. Herrmann says it the new rule more clearly identifies for landowners what is and isn’t regulated under the Clean Water Act.

Herrmann says the WOTUS rewrite also defines navigable waters and clarified those intended to be regulated under the Clean Water Act.

The 60-day public comment period doesn’t begin until after the new WOTUS language is published in the federal register.