A coalition of 18 industry partners, including the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, have filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas asking the court to strike down the Biden administration’s Waters of the U.S. rule in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. EPA.
In the meantime, President Joe Biden’s administration announced this week that it plans to finalize a revised WOTUS definition by Sept. 1.
“In Sackett v. EPA, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the EPA had overstepped its authority under the Clean Water Act,” said NCBA Chief Counsel Mary-Thomas Hart. “A full rewrite of the Biden administration’s WOTUS definition is the only path to comply with the Sackett decision. NCBA is seeking summary judgment in our lawsuit against the Biden WOTUS rule and urging the Southern District of Texas to strike the rule from the books.”
The Sackett case was not directly about agriculture, but the the Environmental Protection Agency’s overregulation of WOTUS harmed the plaintiffs. NCBA filed an amicus brief before the Supreme Court, siding with the Sackett family in their lawsuit against the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers. Ultimately, points raised in NCBA’s brief were incorporated in the justice’s final opinion, demonstrating the importance of NCBA joining the fight.
Separate from the Sackett case, NCBA and a coalition of litigation partners also filed their own lawsuit against the Biden administration’s WOTUS rule to block it from taking effect. NCBA secured injunctions in 27 states to temporarily halt the rule.
Now, NCBA is filing a motion for summary judgment to ask the court to rule on vacating the full Biden administration WOTUS rule based on the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Sackett case.
“NCBA has been fighting against overreaching WOTUS rules for years, and this is just the latest example of how NCBA fights on every front from Congress to the courtroom,” said Hart. “We are proud to be the voice of America’s cattle producers in Washington.”
In April, a federal judge in North Dakota granted a preliminary injunction for 24 states against the WOTUS rule. Following suit, on March 20, a U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas blocked WOTUS in Texas and Idaho.
