Letters to Washington
| July 7, 2023

Letter to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and EPA on a Post-Sackett Pause on Approved Jurisdictional Determinations

The National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA) strongly urges the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) (the agencies) to immediately issue a public, post-Sackett memo on approved jurisdictional determinations (AJDs) for areas that are clearly excluded from jurisdiction under the Sackett v EPA (Sackett) opinion. While we agree that an updated rule is needed for more complex aspects of the Supreme Court of the U.S. (SCOTUS) opinion, interim directives are urgently needed to issue AJDs for features that were clearly excluded under Sackett, namely isolated waters, ephemeral waters, intermittent waters that lack relatively permanent flow and wetlands not connected to tributaries or navigable waters. It has been over a month since the release of Sackett, and our members cannot wait another two months or more while they are seeking to supply construction materials to infrastructure projects. The dynamic nature of our industry means that time is of the essence, and delays hinder our ability to contribute to the administration's infrastructure goals by providing the high-quality materials needed for nearly every project. Over the past two years our industry has been operating under one rule nullified, then the pre-2015, then another rule in place for a short time then nullified in half of the country. The current AJD ban only adds to existing confusion and obstacles our industry faces as we work to fulfill the administration’s infrastructure goals by providing high quality materials needed for nearly every project.