By Julie Tomascik
Editor

A Texas federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against the Biden administration’s Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule, blocking its implementation in Texas and Idaho.

U.S. District Judge Jeffery Vincent Brown issued the ruling on Sunday, March 19. The 2023 WOTUS rule took effect for the rest of the country on Monday, March 20.

“The ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to halt implementation of the troubled 2023 Waters of the United States rule in Texas and Idaho is very good news for Texas farmers and ranchers,” Texas Farm Bureau President Russell Boening said in a statement.

The Biden administration’s rule significantly expands federal jurisdiction over waters such as ephemeral streams and small wetlands. It also uses the “significant nexus” test, which allows for more federal overreach, according to state and national farm groups.

Due to the confusion surrounding the rule, landowners would need to hire environmental consultants, attorneys and engineers to ensure they are in compliance while trying to farm their land.

“Farmers and ranchers need rules that don’t require a team of attorneys, environmental consultants and engineers to interpret,” Boening said. “These legal challenges are important. They send a clear message to EPA that it should rewrite WOTUS to limit its scope to navigable waters.”

Agricultural groups, including Texas Farm Bureau and American Farm Bureau Federation, say that the Trump administration’s Navigable Waters Protection Rule makes it easier for farmers, ranchers and landowners to determine whether they have jurisdictional wetlands on their property.

Read the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas ruling.