National News

WOTUS Given New Life by Federal Judge. “After three years of court battles, a federal judge in South Carolina recently breathed new life into one of the worst ideas of the Obama administration. The 2015 Waters of the United States Rule, commonly known as WOTUS, was an effort by President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency to dramatically expand federal control over our nation’s water resources. If it fully goes into effect, WOTUS would make nearly every square inch of Missouri subject to EPA regulation. The WOTUS proposal is so overreaching and unreasonable, Farm Bureau led the effort to reverse it, seeking both clean water and clear rules for farmers across America. At first, the efforts to put WOTUS on ice were successful. A federal judge in North Dakota issued a preliminary injunction in 2015 that blocked the rule from taking effect in Missouri and 12 other states. The judge said that the Obama administration used an ‘exceptionally expansive’ interpretation of its jurisdiction to justify the rule. A following decision by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the rule in the rest of the nation. The court pointed to the fact that EPA’s justifications were ‘at odds’ with a key Supreme Court ruling on the underlying law.” [DailyJournalOnline.com, 10/3/18 (=)]