By Jessica Domel
News Editor
The fate of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) controversial water rule will remain undecided for at least another year.
This week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit entered a briefing schedule for the legal challenges to EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers’ Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule.
Briefing in the case will stretch into February 2017, according to the schedule.
Oral arguments will follow sometime after–most likely in the spring.
A number of states, entities and organizations, including Texas Farm Bureau and American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), have challenged EPA’s WOTUS. The rule essentially gives the agency the authority, through the Clean Water Act, to control what landowners do on property that may only sometimes hold water.
By claiming regulatory authority, AFBF officials believe EPA may choose to issue or not issue permits for otherwise every day activities like plowing, land clearing and applying fertilizer–essentially deciding who can farm and how.
EPA claims the rule clarifies regulatory authority, allowing the agency and the Corps to protect streams and wetlands and their impact on water quality.
The rule, which went into effect Aug. 28, 2015, was stayed nationwide by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in October.
It is unclear how long the stay, which prevents EPA and Corps’ enforcement of the rule, will remain in effect.
Previous legislation designed to block WOTUS nationwide was vetoed by President Obama.
Other legal challenges to the rule still remain in other courts, but the challenge in the Sixth Circuit that will likely be heard in the coming year is progressing the fastest and may affect the outcome of those cases.
I firmly believe that we purchased our land, We pay this ungodly school and county tax along with a drainage district tax. That is already too much for the land owner. We don’t need to be told when we can plow, when we can fertilize.
In this country that is supposed to be so great, will soon be the land under dictatorship. There are too many white shirts drawing salaries off the land owner. All Equalization boards should be closed down. We elect a tax collector
and assessor why do we need 15 others drawing salaries from the land owner.? I know they say it can’t be closed as it brings in too much money for the state? From who? The landowner of course. I wish all land owners would wake up and re claim their land. Think about this!! Thank you, Maudine Brubaker.
We pay for the land. We pay for taxes on the land. Thanks to Farm Bureau for fighting for our rights. Our caliche pit that we donated land for the county to work on county roads hold a bit of water for a short while after it rains, is a prime target of Obama. No logic involved in his regulations.