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MARICOPA COUNTY RESOLUTION NO. C-20-15-004-M-00 A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF MARICOPA COUNTY, PHOENIX, ARIZONA REGARDING THE PROPOSED RULE TO CLARIFY THE DEFINITION OF THE “WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES” (WUS) UNDER THE CLEAN WATER ACT (CWA). WHEREAS, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) presented this draft rule with the goal of providing regulatory clarity, but instead, this proposed rule substantially broadens the scope of the CWA without regard for the impacts on the regulated community or the economy, and WHEREAS, Maricopa County recently experienced historic flash flooding and this proposed rule would have greatly hindered Maricopa County’s clean-up process by requiring costly and time- consuming permits because all activities requiring construction in WUS are subject to Section 404 permitting under the federal CWA and all discharges into WUS of stormwater and wastewater are subject to Section 402 permitting, and WHEREAS, when Congress enacted the CWA, it intended to preserve state and local control over land development and water resource management, but the proposed rule replaces that local control with federal regulation, and WHEREAS, U.S. Small Business Administration has called for the proposed rule to be withdrawn and reworked because it would have direct, significant effects on small businesses, and WHEREAS, the EPA and COE have acknowledged that the data and the assumptions made to craft the cost-benefit analysis of the definitional changes on CWA programs may be flawed, and WHEREAS, the proposed rule does not explain how existing WUS delineations will be treated when the new rule becomes final, and WHEREAS, the technical scientific study of many of the WUS issues, known as the “connectivity study,” was not finalized prior to the rule going out for comment, and WHEREAS, the proposed rule could significantly impact the Central Arizona Project (CAP) Canal which supplies a great amount of water to Maricopa County and its citizens, and WHEREAS, the proposed rule’s “tributaries” definitions do not distinguish between small and large tributaries and result in the inclusion of all intermittent streams regardless of length, and WHEREAS, the proposed rule does not distinguish between natural and artificial wetlands, and WHEREAS, the proposed rule could lead to a great number of high value habitat determinations, which would subject Maricopa County to substantial mitigation costs, and WHEREAS, the proposed rule’s definition of “other waters” includes several words that have conflicting definitions, and WHEREAS, the proposed rule’s new definition of “floodplains,” will be confusing to the public accustomed to the Federal Emergency Management Agency definition when it is also used for identifying a WUS, and WHEREAS, the EPA and COE believe the proposed rule will not apply to some of the issues above, but third parties will likely not agree, creating an opportunity for third-party lawsuits that will force Maricopa County to use limited resources on defenses against lawsuits. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the Board of Supervisors of Maricopa County hereby urges the Obama Administration to withdraw the rule. AUTHORZED this 5th day of November, 2014, by Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, Phoenix, Arizona. _________________________ Chairman, Board of Supervisors ATTEST: APPROVED AS TO FORM: _________________________ _________________________ Clerk of the Board Attorney for the County