Attorney General Ken Paxton
AUSTIN – Attorney General Paxton filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to halt the implementation and enforcement of an Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rule that would have severe adverse consequences for Texans and the state’s control over our own natural resources. The motion comes after Paxton filed the initial lawsuit challenging the Biden Administration rule in January.
EPA’s rule change was predicated on the federal government’s massive expansion of the definition of “waters of the United States” for the purposes of implementing a left-wing environmental agenda. Though Congress granted limited authority to EPA to regulate “navigable waters,” the rule change broadens the definition to include distant wetlands, impoundments, and tributaries. The Biden Administration’s change exposes these state waters to burdensome federal regulations and places Texas’s autonomy and economic development directly in the crosshairs of activists in Washington.
“The environmental extremists who wrote this unlawful rule have no interest in respecting our sovereignty or our natural resources,” said Attorney General Paxton. “For this Administration, this isn’t about environmental protection—it’s about federal control over states like Texas, and we aren’t going to allow it. This rule is unlikely to survive our efforts to stop it permanently, and it is important that the court prevents the change in definition from going into effect until our case has been decided.”
To read the full motion for preliminary injunction, click here.
