The U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota enjoined the 2023 Waters of the United States rule in 24 states, including Oklahoma, on Wednesday, April 12.
The ruling blocks implementation of the 2023 WOTUS rule in 24 states, adding to a previous injunction issued by a Texas court last month that blocked implementation in Texas and Idaho.
In the ruling, the court noted the 2023 rule is confusing and recognized the rule’s boundaries are “unlimited.” The court’s opinion also recognized the burden of “costly compliance efforts” placed on individual landowners.
The Biden administration’s 2023 WOTUS rule took effect on March 20 expands the regulatory authority of the Clean Water Act. Farm Bureau members see the rule as an overreach of authority and a taking of private property rights, limiting farmers’ and ranchers’ ability to care for their land while producing food, fuel and fiber.
American Farm Bureau and 17 other industry groups are a party to both the North Dakota and Texas cases.
AFBF, Oklahoma Farm Bureau and fellow state Farm Bureaus continue to wait for a ruling this spring in the U.S. Supreme Court in the case Sackett v. EPA, which challenges EPA’s overreach of its Clean Water Act jurisdiction.
