The Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army have proposed a two-year delay in the effective date of the 2015 Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rules that would have far-reaching effects on drilling contractors and how they treat and dispose of drilling fluids. This would give the agencies time to reconsider the definition of “waters of the United States.”
The new implementation date would be two years after the mid-November, 2017, announcement by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, and the finalization and publication of his proposal in the federal register.