Source: LIsa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE, 2/9/18


The National Pork Producers Council and a coalition of agricultural and business groups have asked for a nationwide preliminary injunction in the case of American Farm Bureau Federation, et. al. vs. the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which would halt the application of the controversial Waters of the U.S. rule nationwide, according to court documents.

It is the latest development in a years-long battle over the Obama administration’s efforts to expand the reach of the Clean Water Act, which the agriculture industry, among others, has fought as being an over-reach of the federal government’s authority.

The Trump administration has begun taking steps to eliminate the rule. However, as that lengthy process plays out, the rule still is on the books. At the state level, different courts have made different decisions as to how the rule will or won’t be applied. The request for an injunction is an effort to head off a nationwide patchwork of different water protection regulations.

In asking the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas for a stay of the WOTUS Rule, NPPC and the other organizations argue that the EPA’s repeal-and-replace process likely will itself be subjected to legal challenges and that “a nationwide preliminary injunction is imperative. 

“The risk that the WOTUS Rule might come in and out of effect repeatedly over the coming years as new regulations are promulgated and new lawsuits are brought represents a manifest irreparable harm not only to the States … but also to private landowners and business owners,” the brief read, in part.

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