WOTUS Re-Write Looks an Awful Lot Like Alaska’s Failed “Stand for Salmon” Initiative

January 3, 2023

When the EPA dropped its long-awaited re-write of the “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) on the last business day of 2022, it sparked immediate backlash.

For Alaskans, some of the language – noted below – is strikingly familiar to portions of the “Stand for Salmon” initiative, which was pummeled by a 63% to 37% margin in the November 2018 elections.  Alaskan voters rightly rejected the extreme positions found in that ballot measure.

WOTUS’ re-write would assert federal jurisdiction over:

“All other waters such as intrastate lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, or natural ponds, the use, degradation or destruction of which could affect interstate or foreign commerce…”

Anyone who understands there must be balance between environmental stewardship and opportunities for responsible development should stand up and fight against the EPA’s overreach and commandeering of states’ rights found in their WOTUS re-write.