Farm Progress: WOTUS Halted in 24 More States

A U.S. District Court in North Dakota issued a preliminary injunction effectively overturning the Biden administration’s Waters of the United States rule in 24 states. In his April 12 ruling, Judge Daniel L. Hovland agreed with those states’ argument that WOTUS poses a threat to their sovereign rights and amounts to irreparable harm. He added that the states would expend unrecoverable resources complying with a rule unlikely to withstand judicial scrutiny.

American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall issued a statement shortly after the ruling calling on the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reconsider the rule now that it has been put on hold in more than half the states.

“Here’s the bottom line: clean water is important to all of us and farmers and ranchers certainly share the goal of caring for our natural resources,” Duvall said. “We depend on them for our livelihoods – all we’re asking for is a sensible rule that farmers can interpret without hiring a team of lawyers.”

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