News

Missouri A-G seeks injunction on WOTUS rule

The Attorney General of Missouri, who is suing the EPA over its Waters of the U.S. definition, has filed a preliminary injunction to block implementation of the new rule. General Chris Koster says they’re asking the federal court in Jefferson City (Missouri) to “preserve the status quo while the case is pending.”

Twelve other states joined the lawsuit Koster filed in late June. The lawsuit says the rule is overreaching and too restrictive and would harm private land owners, especially farmers. Similar lawsuits have been filed elsewhere.

Koster says the EPA’s rule extends the agency’s regulation “far beyond what a reasonable person considers to be a waterway.”

Without a preliminary injunction, he says, the new rule – renamed the Clean Water Rule by the EPA – will go into effect August 28th.

States suing in this lawsuit are:  Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, North Dakota and Wyoming.