EPA Commits to Reducing Regulatory Burdens for Home Builders

NAHB Senior Officers sat down with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin on May 29 to discuss EPA’s deregulatory priorities benefiting the home-building industry.

Zeldin told NAHB Chairman Buddy Hughes, First Vice Chairman Bill Owens and CEO Jim Tobin that he is committed to fulfilling President Trump’s directive to reduce federal regulatory burdens upon larger U.S. economy while also improving the federal permitting process across all EPA programs. As an example Zeldin pointed to his identifying more than 30 federal environmental regulations finalized during the Biden administration that will be repealed or significantly revised.

One of the Biden administration’s regulations directly impacting the home-building industry is the regulatory definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act (CWA). That same day, NAHB members were actively participating in an EPA public listening session in Salt Lake City on revising the current WOTUS regulatory definition.

NAHB Senior Officers expressed their appreciation for clarifying how the agencies will interpret the concept of ‘continuous surface connection’ when making CWA jurisdictional determinations (JDs) for ‘adjacent wetlands.’ Under the guidance, the agencies must comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s Sackett ruling stating all CWA jurisdictional ‘adjacent wetlands” must directly touch — i.e., be indistinguishable from another CWA jurisdictional waterbody or have a “continuous surface water connection” to another jurisdictional feature.

This commonsense interpretation reverses abuses by the agencies during the Biden administration, when federal regulators would assert CWA jurisdiction over isolated wetlands by claiming any discrete CWA non-jurisdictional features such as grass swales or manmade drainage ditches could serve as evidence of a ‘continuous surface water connection’ between an ‘adjacent wetland’ and another jurisdictional feature. The joint regulatory guidance by the agencies has rescinded those CWA jurisdictional determinations.

The Senior Officers raised concerns with Zeldin regarding such as Energy Star, WaterSense and AirPlus. NAHB supports consumer-facing voluntary energy efficiency programs such as Energy Star over the use of federal regulatory mandates for energy efficiency or state and local government initiatives to restrict consumer’s energy choices by prohibiting the use of natural gas in new residential construction. As evidence of this support, NAHB Senior Officers shared the results of showing a majority of prospective home buyers rate Energy Star-compliant appliances and building products (i.e., windows, doors, HVAC systems) as highly desirable.

Although it remains unclear what specific actions on voluntary program the EPA will take, NAHB appreciates the opportunity to address key environmental concerns surrounding the home-building industry with the EPA and looks forward to working with the administration on commonsense solutions. NAHB will continue to provide updates on these ongoing conversations.