Opposition to Clean Water Act rule continues to build

August 11, 2015 | By REED HOPPER

As the deadline approaches for implementation of the Corps and EPA’s new rule redefining “waters of the United States,” subject to complete control by the federal government under the Clean Water Act, on August 28, we are seeing more and more articles condemning the agency overreach.  Each adds a new perspective demonstrating why this ill-considered rule should be withdrawn and reworked from the ground up.

In addition to our own article that appeared last week in Forbes, two new articles offer some novel considerations that may have escaped the casual reader.  The first is by Daren Bakst at the American Thinker entitled “Three Signs the EPA/Army Corps Water Rule is a Disaster.”  This article documents the EPA’s unprecedented propaganda campaign to drum up support for the rule during the public comment period, as well as the overwhelming opposition to the rule by the States and even the Corps itself.  The other noteworthy article is Josh Rolph’s commentary at AgAlert called “Now is the time to act to stop the ‘Clean Water Rule'” that focuses on the unique impact the new rule will have on farmers.  Both are worth a read.

BTW, tomorrow, the Southern District Court of Georgia will hear the first motion to enjoin the new rule from being enforced.  Eleven states filed a suit in that court to overturn the new rule. If the judge does not decide the motion at the time of the hearing, it is likely the judge will issue an opinion within one to two weeks, just before the new rule takes effect.