The federal appellate court in Atlanta says it will decide an 11-state lawsuit against the EPA’s Waters of the United States rule, although the U.S. appeals court in Cincinnati is consolidating WOTUS challenges into a single case for its consideration, said DTN. A lawyer active in clean-water cases said appeals courts sometimes handle the same issue concurrently: “That is, after all, how circuit splits develop.”
The Cincinnati court issued a nationwide stay last October against implementation of WOTUS, which defines the upstream reach of the clean water law. The EPA says the rule clarifies its jurisdiction. Farm groups have been in the forefront of arguing the rule expands federal regulation far beyond rivers and streams.
The 11 states involved in the case in Atlanta, ranging from Kansas to Florida, have asked the appeals court to overturn the Cincinnati court’s claim of jurisdiction over WOTUS challenges, said DTN. The appeals court said it would hear arguments on that point on July 8. “Agricultural and other industry groups were unconvinced that legal challenges to the [WOTUS] rule should be heard by the Sixth Circuit Court” in Cincinnati because of previous decisions in favor of EPA in water-pollution cases.