Source: MEATINGPLACE, 8/23/19


A federal court in Georgia ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2015 Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule is unlawful under the Clean Water Act (CWA) because of its “vast expansion of jurisdiction over waters and land traditionally within the states’ regulatory authority,” the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) said in a news release, summarizing court documents.

The U.S. district court for the Southern District of Georgia said the agency also overstepped the Administrative Procedure Act, which outlines basic rules governing how agencies may propose and establish federal regulations.

The court kept in place a preliminary injunction preventing the rule from becoming effective in the 11 states involved with the lawsuit while the EPA finalizes its own repeal and replacement of the 2015 rule.

“The court ruling is clear affirmation of exactly what we have been saying for the past five years,” AFBF General Counsel Ellen Steen said. “The EPA badly misread Supreme Court precedent. It encroached on the traditional powers of the states and simply ignored basic principles of the Administrative Procedure Act when it issued this unlawful regulation. The court found fault with the EPA’s interpretation of some of the most basic principles of the CWA, most importantly which waters the federal government may regulate, and which waters must be left to states and municipalities.”

AFBF, along with a coalition of other agricultural groups, wants EPA to repeal and replacement its 2015 rule.

 For more stories, go to www.meatingplace.com.