A federal court has issued a preliminary injunction that temporarily blocks the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from implementing or enforcing its Waters of the United States (WOTUS) Rule in Georgia and 23 other states.
In February, Attorney General Chris Carr co-led a coalition of 24 states in filing suit against the EPA, asking a federal court to vacate the WOTUS Rule and declare it unlawful.
“This outcome is a major win for Georgia’s farmers and private landowners, who were facing an administration intent on regulating nearly every conceivable body of water in the country,” said Carr. “For years, we have been on the forefront of this fight, and we are proud to have secured meaningful relief for hardworking Georgians across our state.”
“I’m proud to be working alongside the Attorney General to halt this massive government overreach and protect our state’s number one industry,” said Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper. “The Biden Administration’s unlawful attempt to regulate virtually every body of water in our state would add layers of bureaucracy and overburden an already over regulated industry. I’ll continue working for our farmers, producers and consumers every step of the way and fighting back against government overreach that threatens our way of life in Georgia.”
The new WOTUS Rule seeks to redefine “Waters of the United States,” as that term is used in the Clean Water Act, to include virtually all water that is or has been, at some point, connected to interstate waters, including ponds, certain streams, ditches and ephemeral waters – as well as some waters that are purely intrastate. The district court held that the rule is likely unlawful, and indeed, “unintelligible” in many respects.
According to the coalition, the flawed and unlawful rule will affect farmers who may need to get permission from the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers to fill or dredge wetlands or waterways, depending on whether those features fall under the federal government’s purview. Developers, miners and other property owners wishing to make use of their land will face federal government regulations, too.
Georgia, West Virginia, Iowa, and North Dakota were joined in the lawsuit by Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.