EPA seeks more public comment on rule that affects Kentucky water protections

The U.S Environmental Protection Agency is again seeking public comments on a proposal to redefine what waters receive federal environmental protections, a move that could also have a broad impact on state water protections in Kentucky. 

The Trump administration is allowing public comments until Oct. 9 on a “supplemental” rule to redefine federally protected Waters of the United States under the Clean Water Act. It’s an action the EPA said would allow it to “evaluate a wider range of options” following a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that severely curtailed the federal government’s ability to regulate water pollution over certain types of wetlands. 

It’s the second time the EPA is collecting public comments on the proposal. In January, Republican Kentucky Attorney General Russel Coleman and other Republican attorneys general wrote in a public comment that the federal government has long tried to overreach in their authority to regulate water pollution, arguing state governments are better suited to do so. 

“For too long, the agencies have over-expanded the definition — far exceeding lawful congressional authorization. The fallout from that overreach has been severe,” the attorneys general wrote. “Expansive definitions stripped states of their ability to regulate their own waters. Congress never intended that affront to traditional state authority.”

But environmental advocacy groups including and Kentucky’s own water pollution regulators have warned the redefinition could also mean a drastic rollback of state regulatory power over water pollution. 

The GOP-controlled state legislature passed a law in 2025 — arguing the need for industry regulatory relief — that largely ties the definition of protected state waters to the federal definition of navigable waters. At the time, environmental advocacy groups warned that ceding water protection limits to the federal government could threaten the groundwater of hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians.

In January, the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet published online infographics that warn at least 74% of stream miles, or an estimated more than 80,000 miles of streams, could lose environmental protections under the federal redefinition. The cabinet also wrote only 14% of Kentucky wetlands would be protected under a proposed federal redefinition. 

In an infographic, the cabinet wrote the state is in a “uniquely vulnerable position” because state water protections are tied to the federal definition of Waters of the United States. 

“This means that questions about what waters the state protects will depend on

which political party is in power rather than a true scientific or geological standard,” the cabinet wrote.

The cabinet warned of the potential for more water pollution, less protection against flooding and impacts of waterfowl habitat.

Those interested in submitting a public comment on the federal proposal can do so online or by other means including mail.