Oct 9, 2015

Court halts WOTUS in its tracks

According to Michigan Farm Bureau, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary stay Oct. 9 barring EPA and Army Corps of Engineers’ “Waters of the U.S.” (WOTUS) rule nationwide. The stay is temporary, but gives the regulated community some breathing room in which to continue collecting their arguments to roll WOTUS back in its entirety.

“Essentially this means that, for the time being anyway, neither the EPA nor the Army Corps can enforce the rule,” said Laura Campbell, manager of Michigan Farm Bureau’s agricultural ecology department. “Basically this federal court saw the rising tide of lawsuits around the country all saying pretty much the same thing: that WOTUS goes against previous Supreme Court decisions and conflicts with the congressional intent of the Clean Water Act.”

For more information, read the Farm Bureau story here.