DTN writer Todd Neeley reported yesterday that, “With the 2015 waters of the United States, or WOTUS, rule now in effect in half of the country, a number of agriculture and other industry groups are continuing the court fight.
“The groups have turned to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Virginia, in an attempt to overturn a South Carolina district court ruling that threw out the EPA’s new rule to delay the implementation of the 2015 WOTUS rule by two years.
“In addition, the groups led by the American Farm Bureau Federation, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, National Corn Growers Association, National Pork Producers Council, South Carolina Farm Bureau, Texas Farm Bureau and U.S. Poultry and Egg Association, have asked the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Galveston, to issue a national injunction on the 2015 rule.”
Mr. Neeley noted that, “The legal wrangling that has occurred since Obama’s EPA finalized the 2015 rule still leaves the nation divided on the Clean Water Act rule, with the rule in effect in some states but not in others. The rule redefined which wetlands and small waterways are covered by the Clean Water Act. Many farmers and ranchers feared the change would lead to increased government regulation of their land.”
