Two Dozen States Challenge U.S. EPA's New WOTUS Rule
After revising a controversial yet foundational federal source water regulation, the U.S. EPA now faces a unified front of conservative states in court.
“A group of 24 Republican-led states is suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to try to knock down a rule governing which water gets federal protections,” The Hill reported. “Announcing their new lawsuit … the Republican attorneys general argued that the rule issues protections too liberally, and that it could end up harming ranchers, farmers, miners, homebuilders and other landowners.”
The regulation in question is the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, which seeks to clarify where the federal government has authority to intervene in source water protection. The Obama administration defined WOTUS as an aspect of the Clean Water Act, the Trump administration revised it to clear red tape from industrial operations, and the Biden administration has revised it once again.
With such a controversial history, officials shouldn’t be surprised that this latest iteration is being challenged in court. The role of the federal government in protecting source water is becoming a central issue for the nation’s highest court.
“The rule and subsequent lawsuit are also coming as the Supreme Court is poised to soon issue its own opinion on the scope of the country’s water regulations,” according to The Hill. “It heard a case in October that centered around what types of wetlands can be considered ‘adjacent’ to other regulated bodies of water and thus deserving.”
Environmental advocates have argued that the nation’s critical water bodies need more protection than ever given their importance to wildlife and the drinking water that reaches consumers, and the U.S. EPA has framed this version of WOTUS as a reasonable middleground between the Obama and Trump era versions. But those projecting how this latest lawsuit — or the fate of the revised WOTUS in general — could end will have to account for the current Supreme Court’s conservative bent.
“At the midpoint of their term, the justices have nearly a dozen cases — and a handful of petitions — that provide plenty of openings for the court to undercut the Biden administration’s climate agenda,” E&E News reported. “And many of the court’s six conservative justices appear hungry for those opportunities.”
To read more about the regulations that dictate source water quality, visit Water Online’s Regulations And Legislation Solutions Center.