July 30, 2015 - Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has joined North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and representatives from 29 other states urging the EPA to extend the effective date of the planned Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule, which is currently set to go in effect August 28, 2015. Once the rule gets into effect, virtually every river, stream and creek in the U.S. will come under the oversight of bureaucrats from the EPA. This would force sweeping changes to environmental policy, and will cause unnecessary hardship to farmers, private property owners and businesses having a detrimental effect on local and state economies.
“This unlawful rule seeks to vastly expand the definition of waters under federal control, putting virtually any property owner at risk of facing costly new regulations,” Attorney General Paxton said. “The EPA’s overreach stifles growth, kills jobs and hinders the creation of new ones, and I’m committed to fighting this unprecedented expansion of regulatory power.”
The letter, sent to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and Assistant Secretary of the Army Jo Ellen Darcy, requests that the EPA immediately act to extend the effective date of the WOTUS rule by at least nine months.
On June 29, joined by the states of Louisiana and Mississippi, Attorney General Paxton filed a lawsuit challenging the EPA’s unconstitutional, illegal and costly new water rule. By revising the regulatory definition of “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act, the EPA greatly expands federal jurisdiction over waters and threatens the ability of states and private property owners to use their own land. The rule violates the U.S. Constitution, federal law and U.S. Supreme Court precedent, and places costly burdens on landowners in Texas.
To view the letter, please visit: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/files/epress/files/2015/07-29-15_Le....
