Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi are asking a federal court to expedite its consideration of a nationwide injunction against the 2015 Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) Rule.
A DTN report says a South Carolina court recently issued a ruling that allows the rule to go back into effect in 26 states.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a motion in the southern district of the U.S. District Court in Texas. “This court should enjoin the WOTUS rule that’s already enjoined in 24 other states, in order to give much-needed consistency in the applicability of WOTUS throughout the nation,” Paxton wrote in his motion.
The WOTUS rule is currently enjoined in 24 states due to other court decisions. Groups including the American Farm Bureau filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. The South Carolina Court’s ruling overturned a two-year delay for the Environmental Protection Agency to work on rewriting the WOTUS rule.
The ag groups are asking the South Carolina Court to stay the injunction that essentially makes WOTUS the law of the land in 26 states, at least until the appeal is heard.
Source: National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.