A new Biden administration rule establishing federal jurisdiction over waterways across the country has the State of Missouri and 23 other states teaming up to try stopping the rule in it’s tracks.
Governor Mike Parson held a press conference on Thursday calling the Waters of the United States nothing more than unacceptable federal overreach.
“If the Biden administration expects us to just stand back and tolerate this federal intrusion, they are deeply mistaken.”
State Attorney General Andrew Bailey says the rule would have a disastrous effect on farmers and ranchers everywhere.
“President Biden’s rush to issue this rule is nothing short of a land grab. It is an attempt to turn Missouri agricultural land over to federal unelected bureaucrats…..federal unelected bureaucrats at the EPA. And we’re not going to let it happen.”
Farming is a $93-billion industry in Missouri alone and, currently, the United States Supreme Court is considering the legality of WOTUS and its definitions being imposed on waterways across the nation, public or private.
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Our office fully supports
Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s lawsuit against the Biden Administration as we fight back against their radical climate agenda.
The state’s lawsuit seeks to protect Missouri farmers, ranchers, and business owners and achieve clearer guidance and more commonsense definitions on what regulated waters actually are and should be for communities across the state. Missouri’s agriculture community is lucky to have Attorney General Bailey fighting on their behalf, and we know he’ll do everything he can to support them, fight for them, and win for them.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed suit with 22 other attorneys general against the Biden administration’s “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule that attempts to unconstitutionally expand federal authority over water throughout the country. The lawsuit asserts that President Biden’s interpretation of WOTUS “goes beyond the power Congress delegated in the Clean Water Act, raises serious constitutional concerns, and runs roughshod over the Administrative Procedure Act.”
The Trump administration replaced the Obama administration’s controversial 2015 WOTUS rule with the Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR), which created a clear distinction between federal waters and waters subject to the sole control of the states, their governmental subdivisions, and tribes.
President Biden signed an executive order on his first day in office that began the process of rolling back the Trump administration reforms, which was finalized in December when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its new rule repealing the NWPR and repackaged the 2015 Obama rule. The new rule redefines “navigable waters” to include ponds, certain streams, ditches, and other bodies of water under the Clean Waters Act, as determined by the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers.
The attorneys general assert that the flawed and unlawful rule will affect farmers who will now need permission from the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers to fill or dredge wetlands or waterways. Developers, miners and other property owners wishing to make use of their land will face implications, too.
The attorneys general ask the Court for a preliminary injunction to halt the Biden administration’s new WOTUS rule.
Joining Missouri in filing this lawsuit are the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio ,Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
The lawsuit can be read here:
