WASHINGTON, D.C. – A Cincinnati federal appeals court on Friday halted the Environmental Protection Agency from implementing a regulation that critics feared would give the federal government oversight over "almost every conceivable water body in the country" under the Clean Water Act.
Eighteen states including Ohio sued the federal government this summer, alleging the new rule would define "waters of the United States" to give the federal government jurisdiction over small tributaries "and even adjacent dry land and dry creek beds, with little limit on federal jurisdiction."
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine argued the rule violates the language and spirit of the decades-old Clean Water Act, which "recognizes the rights of states to serve as trustees of their natural resources." He expressed fear the federal government would use the overly broad definition of waters it oversees to improperly penalize landowners.
A panel of three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on Friday declared there's a "substantial possibility" that the states challenging the federal government in the case would succeed, and ordered the new rule to be stayed nationwide, pending the court's further review.
For the full story, on Cleveland.com, click here.
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