United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a nationwide preliminary injunction preventing EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) from implementing the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule while the court is reviewing the various legal matters surrounding the regulation.
“The American Farm Bureau Federation is pleased the Sixth Circuit recognizes that this rule has serious flaws and cannot go forward until the courts have had an opportunity to understand its effect on farmers, ranchers and landowners of all kinds,” Bob Stallman, president of American Farm Bureau, said. “The judges expressed deep concerns over the basic legality of this rule. We’re not in the least surprised: This is the worst EPA order we have seen since the agency was established more than 40 years ago. The court clearly understood our arguments.”
In the ruling, Judge McKeague said, “The stay temporarily silences the whirlwind of confusion that springs from uncertainty about the requirements of the new Rule and whether they will survive legal testing.”
The motion for the preliminary injunction was filed by 18 states. The Sixth Circuit decision follows a preliminary injunction issued Aug. 28 by the U.S. District Court for North Dakota. The judge in that case clarified on Sept. 4 the injunction only applied to the 13 states that were plaintiffs to that litigation. One of the reasons the district court failed to issue a nationwide injunction was out of deference to the Sixth Circuit, where many, but not all, of the legal challenges to the WOTUS rule have been consolidated by the U.S Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.
“We are confident that the courts will strike down this rule. Unfortunately, we also know stays don’t last forever, and cases like this almost always take years to win,” Stallman said. “So we again ask the Senate to pass legislation to nullify this rule just as the House has already done. Farmers and ranchers cannot afford to wait.”