bytes
Sixth Circuit Issues Stay of WOTUS; Senate Fails to
Muster Votes to Defeat It
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth
District in Cincinnati issued a stay against the EPA’s
Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule on October
9th, temporarily halting the concern and confusion of
landowners, farmers and businesses nationwide.
is not issued pending determination of this court’s
jurisdiction,” McKeague wrote. “But neither is there
any indication that the integrity of the nation’s waters
will suffer imminent injury if the new scheme is not
immediately implemented and enforced.”
In the opinion, Judge David McKeague of the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, said the
plaintiffs, 18 states in this case, “have demonstrated a
substantial possibility of success on the merits of their
claims” and that a stay will not cause undue harm to
either the states or the environment. Judge Richard
Griffin joined in McKeague’s opinion, providing the
two-to-one majority.
“The judges expressed deep concerns over the
basic legality of this rule,” AFBF President Bob
Stallman said in a statement. “We’re not in the least
surprised. This is the worst EPA order we have seen
since the agency was established more than 40 years
ago. The court clearly understood our arguments. We
are confident that the courts will strike down this rule.
Unfortunately, we also know stays don’t last forever,
and cases like this almost always take years to win.”
“There is no compelling showing that any of the
petitioners will suffer immediate irreparable harm
- in the form of interference with state sovereignty,
or in unrecoverable expenditure of resources as they
endeavor to comply with the new regime - if a stay
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Hopes were that the U.S. Senate would settle
the issue once and for all, through the passing of
legislation ordering the EPA to scrap the rule and start
over. However, a vote on November 3rd fell three
votes short.
At the moment, the stay remains in place. Farmers
and others are advised to stay informed to further
developments to avoid putting themselves at risk of
large fines should the stay be lifted and enforcement
of WOTUS commences.