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6th Circuit Court to hear challenge to Clean Water Act

A challenge to the Clean Water Act will be heard by the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati after the 11th Circuit Court declined to hear a challenge to the case. The act, formerly known as the Waters of the U.S., grants the US EPA oversight and jurisdiction over a vast array of waterways. The rule is opposed by farmers and ranchers as overreaching.

Ellen Steen with the American Farm Bureau Federation says even though the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has decided to hear the case, that could still be a mistake.

“This messy, technical, jurisdictional stuff is delaying us getting to the merits. We’re so confident this is just a horrible regulation and an illegal regulation. We really want to get on to the merits and getting this rule invalidated in the court.” says Steen.

Steen says oversight of the rule is ambiguous and that’s why many states have been filing lawsuits in other courts. She says not filing a challenge in the right court could lead to trouble later on

“If you litigate in the wrong court, then you spend months or even years briefing a case and you finally get to a decision from the court, and then it goes all the way up to the Supreme Court and you hear, ‘Oh, wait a minute, you were in the wrong court, you’ve got to go back down and start over again in the right court”

Steen says the American Farm Bureau will file a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court in September to determine which appeals court has jurisdiction over the case.

Audio: Ellen Steen, AFBF General Counsel