Ken Paxton
AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton today joined West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel and 19 other state attorneys general in supporting the repeal of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt signed a notice to withdraw the Obama-era rule.
The WOTUS rule asserted sweeping federal authority over all waters in the U.S., including not only dry channels, ditches, and isolated streams, but also land covered by water only once every 100 years.
“This rule directly infringed on the states’ ability to regulate their own national resources and posed a burden to Texas property owners whose land would be subject to new EPA regulations,” Attorney General Paxton said. “I applaud Administrator Pruitt for recognizing that the Obama-era EPA blatantly exceeded statutory authority, and for promptly repealing this unlawful rule.”
In October 2015, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with a lawsuit filed by Attorney General Paxton and issued a nationwide stay against the WOTUS rule. Earlier this month, he joined a 20-state coalition in a letter urging the EPA to respect states’ rights in its ongoing review of the rule.
Along with Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin, the states in support of the repeal of the Waters of the United States Rule are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Wyoming, and the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
To view a copy of an earlier letter urging the EPA to repeal this rule, click here: http://bit.ly/2sxHiUm