Farm Bureau Asks Court to Block WOTUS Rule

The American Farm Bureau Federation and a broad coalition of ag industry groups asked a federal district court in Texas to issue a nationwide stay on the “Waters of the U.S.” rule. The stay would block the rule from going into effect on farms and ranches across the nation. The request for a stay became necessary after the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision that the U.S. Court of Appeals lacked jurisdiction over legal challenges to the 2015 Obama-era rule. That resulted in the immediate lifting of a nationwide court order that’s blocked the rule since 2015. The filing comes after the publication of the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers’ “applicability date” rule, which delays WOTUS implementation for two years. A handful of states and environmental groups are eager to get the rule implemented. They’ve already challenged the applicability date rule and promised to pursue court orders allowing the WOTUS rule to go into effect immediately. Farm Bureau’s court filing says, “farmers and ranchers across the country won’t know whether dry ditches, drains, and low spots on their farm fields will be ‘dry land’ one day and a ‘water’ the next.”