Court issues injunction on Biden's WOTUS final rule

Apr. 14—A federal court in North Dakota has issued a preliminary injunction against the Biden administration's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from implementing its final rule redefining Waters of the United States (WOTUS).

The final rule has been the source of opposition by West Virginia leaders, including Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who, along with Virginia AG Jason Miyares led a coalition of 24 states in a lawsuit to vacate the rule.

Morrisey announced on Wednesday that the coalition was successful in getting the preliminary injunction by the U.S. District Court in North Dakota.

"This is a victory for the states because this rule, if allowed to be implemented, will upset the balance of power between the states and the federal government without clear statement from Congress," Morrisey said. "It's a decades-long effort by the EPA to regulate purely intrastate waters without the explicit consent of lawmakers. It creates unneeded delays and costs for farmers, contractors, ranchers and anyone who cares about economic activity."

Capito has adamantly opposed the WOTUS rule as well and recently led a bipartisan coalition of Senators on a successful Congressional Review Act (CRA) joint resolution of disapproval on the rule.

The CRA passed 53-43 and at the time Capito said it "will give every member of Congress the chance to stand with farmers, ranchers, landowners, and builders, and protect future transportation, infrastructure, and energy projects of all kinds in their states. I appreciate the widespread support we've received in both the Senate and House, and across the country, as we fight to place an important check on this misguided overreach from the Biden administration."

Capito said the rule "removes longstanding, bipartisan exclusions for small and isolated water features on farms and ranches and adds to the regulatory burden cattle producers are facing under this administration."

However, Pres. Joe Biden vetoed the resolution and moved forward with the final rule.

But the injunction blocked it, at least for now.

"You cannot regulate a puddle as you do a river and doing so will never give us cleaner water, which is what we all want," Morrisey said. "This rule would harm jobs and economic growth by taking jurisdiction from states and asserting federal authority over nearly any body of water, including roadside ditches, short-lived streams and many other areas where water may flow only once every 100 years ... We're glad the court saw the case the way we did: This is an attempt from unelected bureaucrats to expand their own authority by broadly defining Waters of the United States."

"The Biden Administration has a lengthy track record of using unelected agency bureaucrats to create overreaching rules, rather than the legislative process. This is yet another example of their desire to insert the federal government into every aspect of Virginians' lives — by controlling small bodies of water on private property. This unlawful regulation will hurt Virginia's agricultural and development industries, putting them at risk of criminal and civil penalties," said Miyares. "I'm glad the court applied commonsense to reject the Biden Administration's latest overreach."

— Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com

Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com