THE FIGHT TO DITCH THE RULE CONTINUES:
WV Attorney General Leads Nine-state Coalition
Challenging New EPA ‘Waters of US’ Rule
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is leading a
bipartisan coalition of nine state Attorneys General in
a lawsuit challenging a new rule from the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection
Agency that unlawfully expands the federal
government’s regulatory reach over small streams,
land and farms.
“This rule is a staggering
overreach by the federal
government and violates
the very law it claims to
enforce,” Attorney General
Morrisey said. “It will
have dire consequences for
homeowners, farmers and
other entities by forcing them
to navigate a complex federal
bureaucracy and obtain costly
permits in order to perform
everyday tasks like digging
ditches, building fences or
spraying fertilizers.”
In the complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of Georgia, the Attorneys General
of West Virginia, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas,
Kentucky, South Carolina, Utah and Wisconsin
argue the final rule put out by the EPA and Corps
of Engineers violates the Clean Water Act, the
Administrative Procedure Act
and the U.S. Constitution,
“This rule expands and usurps the States’
primary responsibility for the
a scheme whereby
management, protection and
property owners
care of intrastate waters and
lands.
have to ask the EPA
for permission to
do yardwork – it’s
regulatory lunacy.”
The rule, known generally as the “Waters of the
United States” rule, would extend the EPA and Corps
of Engineers’ regulatory jurisdiction to an untold
number of small bodies of water, including roadside
ditches and short-lived streams or any other area
where the agencies believe water may flow once
every 100 years.
“The way this rule is written creates a series of
absurd scenarios for which people can be fined,”
Mor ɥ͕