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Court extends WOTUS legal battle into 2017

The legal fate of the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule will rest with the next administration, after the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday set a briefing schedule that pushes oral arguments on the case into 2017.

Colin Woodall is vice-president of government affairs with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

“Yes, a new administration could come in and shut this rule down and not have it implemented. So that is something that we’re going to push for,” Woodall says. “Of course, we really won’t know for sure what our options will be until election day.  But it does provide us an opportunity.”

Woodall says the ruling also means that the stay on EPA’s implementation of WOTUS will likely remain in place into next year. But Woodall says the legal battle over WOTUS could drag on for several more years.

“We have long expected that the ultimate decision will reside with the Supreme Court—which also brings in another bit of a wrinkle, not knowing who the ninth justice will be. Because we expect that whomever the new President is will have the opportunity to be the one that actually gets that done.”

In the meantime, Woodall, says, NCBA will continue to push Congress to overturn the WOTUS rule.

AUDIO: Colin Woodall