Texas federal court grants WOTUS injunction for two states; two more requests pending
The injunction is “not the end of the road. That’s just sort of the first step in the lawsuit." — Brigit Rollins
By Mary Hightower
U of A System Division of Agriculture
March 22, 2023
Fast facts:
- New WOTUS rule in effect March 20; injunction issued March 19
- Two cases also seek injunctions
- Find NALC WOTUS updates
(588 words)
(Newsrooms: with art of Rollins )
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A federal court has halted implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s new rule defining waters of the United States, and two more injunction requests are pending in cases involving 25 states, including Arkansas, said Brigit Rollins, National Agricultural Law Center staff attorney.
The new rule went into effect on Monday. The U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Texas issued the injunction Sunday night in Texas vs. EPA. The case halts implementation of the new EPA rule in both Texas and Idaho.
There are two other cases pending — Kentucky Chamber of Commerce vs. EPA, which involves only Kentucky, and State of West Virginia vs. EPA, which involves 24 states, including Arkansas. Following the Texas action, attorneys in the two other cases filed additional briefs Sunday noting the injunction.
The injunction is “not the end of the road. That’s just sort of the first step in
the lawsuit,” Rollins said. “The arguments and the claims are still lingering” and
need to be heard.
“Should the judges in those other two lawsuits issue injunctions, there are a couple
of things that are going to happen right away: Once the judge issues the injunction,
the current WOTUS rule will no longer be in legal effect,” Rollins said. “What that
means is that EPA is going to be applying the previous WOTUS rule that was in place.”
At issue in all three cases is how EPA defines “waters of the U.S.,” known as WOTUS. That definition is critical to enforcement of the Clean Water Act.
Muddying the waters
The legal vortex surrounding WOTUS means the waters may get muddier before clarity is achieved. Rollins said the situation harkens back to EPA’s 2015 rule redefining WOTUS and the resulting lawsuits.
“What ultimately ended up happening was that more than 50 percent of the states had an injunction on that 2015 rule,” she said. “What it meant for those states is that they were applying a different WOTUS rule than in the states that had not joined the suits.
“It’s not impossible that we could see that again,” Rollins said.
“It creates confusion for landowners, members of agricultural communities, and members of industrial communities. I would imagine it would be particularly challenging for anyone who is operating in multiple states,” she said. “You might be subject to different requirements in different states.
“There is the potential for issues to arise with pending Clean Water Act permits that are sort of stuck between those different rules,” Rollins said. “And at the moment it's going to be hard to say what that means for those permits.”
The National Agricultural Law Center has a page dedicated to WOTUS updates.
For updates on WOTUS and other agricultural law developments, subscribe free of charge to The Feed, the NALC’s twice-monthly newsletter highlighting recent legal developments facing agriculture.
For information about the National Agricultural Law Center, visit nationalaglawcenter.org or follow @Nataglaw on Twitter. The National Agricultural Law Center is also on Facebook and LinkedIn.
About the National Agricultural Law Center
The National Agricultural Law Center serves as the nation’s leading source of agricultural
and food law research and information. The NALC works with producers, state and federal
policymakers, Congressional staffers, attorneys, land grant universities, and many
others to provide objective, nonpartisan agricultural and food law research and information
to the nation’s agricultural community.
The NALC is a unit of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and
works in close partnership with the USDA Agricultural Research Service, National Agricultural
Library.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen
agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption
of best practices. The Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work
within the nation’s historic land grant education system through the Agricultural
Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas
System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses.
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension
and Research programs to all eligible persons without regard to race, color, sex,
gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital
or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and
is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer
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Media contact: Mary Hightower
mhightower@uada.edu
@AgInArk