CLINTON DAILY NEWS: WOTUS Could Greatly Affect Farm Country

A federal rule opposed by many Oklahoma farmers, ranchers and wildlife enthusiasts – which Attorney General Mike Hunter says “just doesn’t make sense” – is back on the books, thanks to a single federal judge in South Carolina.
 
It’s the infamous “Waters of the U.S.” regulation that Hun-ter’s predecessor, during a short stint as President Donald Trump’s administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, had succeeded in delaying the enforcement of temporarily.
 
The WOTUS rule was implemented by former President Barack Obama’s administration in 2015 but targeted by Trump during the 2016 elections as something he would abolish or rewrite.
 
In February this year, former Oklahoma AG Scott Pruitt, whom Trump had appointed as his first administrator of the EPA, filed legal documents suspending the WOTUS rule for two years while a new one more favorable to farmers and ran-chers could be prepared by the current administration.
 
But last week, U.S. District Judge David Norton of South Carolina issued an injunction against delaying enforcement of the law in 26 states including Oklahoma.
 
Hunter was quick to react. “The idea that a mud puddle is going to be subject to federal regulation just doesn’t make sense,” he said.
 
He also joined an alliance of organizations filing a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma seeking an injunction against enforcement of the WOTUS rule while its legality is determined. A press release from the AG’s office said injunctions have already been granted in 24 other states. But it also said last week’s decision put the Obama rules back into force immediately in 26 states, including Oklahoma.

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