DTN THE PROGRESSIVE FARMER: WOTUS on Hold in 24 States

A federal district court in Georgia slapped a preliminary injunction on the 2015 waters of the United States, or WOTUS, rule on Friday, suspending the implementation of the rule in 11 states.

The order for injunction handed down by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, is the latest action in a complicated series of court cases challenging the WOTUS rule.

The WOTUS rule finalized by President Barack Obama’s administration in 2015 sought to expand EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authority of water across the country, allowing them to stop or require federal permits for any activity that would disturb the waterway. The rule changed the definition of so-called navigable waters, and farmers and ranchers were concerned that even the smallest pond or ditch could be declared a federal waterway. Agriculture and other industry groups, along with many states, filed legal challenges against the rule claiming it violated the federal constitution.

After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled legal challenges to the rule belong at the district court level, district court cases previously on hold have resumed. A national stay on the rule expired when the Supreme Court rendered its decision.

The Georgia court on Friday put the rule on hold in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Kentucky — the 11 states that filed the original lawsuit in Georgia in June 2015. The rule also is on hold in South Dakota, Missouri, Alaska, North Dakota, New Mexico, Idaho, Arizona, Nebraska, Montana, Arkansas, Nevada, Colorado and Wyoming as part of an ongoing similar case in North Dakota.

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Photo credit: Chris Clayton