Texas, along with 15 other states, has filed lawsuits against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over its definition of bodies of water falling under federal pollution controls, Reuters reports.
The lawsuits are a coordinated challenge to EPA’s final Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule issued on May 27.
The rule defines the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ jurisdiction over rivers, streams, lakes or marshes through their interpretation of the 1972 Clean Water Act, which grants federal regulatory authority over navigable waters.
Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana recently asked a federal court in Houston to declare unconstitutional the Clean Water Act rule expanding the WOTUS definition, especially the definition of “navigable” waters. The lawsuit called WOTUS an impermissible expansion of federal power over the states.
A second lawsuit, brought by a coalition of 13 states, was filed in U.S. district court in North Dakota.