Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Waters of the U-S Foes Turned Back by Court (Politico)

(ATLANTA, GA) -- Challengers to EPA's Waters of the U.S. rule lost their latest attempt to have their case heard by the district courts the groups believed would be more receptive to their arguments. A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decided it would wait to take up the case until the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals rules on a slate of challenges to the Clean Water Rule from several states, Annie reports.

The 11th Circuit panel noted the 6th Circuit has already decided that it, and not district courts, has jurisdiction. "The Sixth Circuit is the obvious court to proceed to decision because it is significantly farther along the decisional path than we are. It has already decided the district court versus court of appeals jurisdictional issue, it has denied rehearing en banc of that decision, it has set a briefing schedule on the merits issues, and it is in the process of winnowing down the massive administrative record to its most relevant parts." In other words, "[i]t would be a colossal waste of judicial resources for both this Court and the Sixth Circuit to undertake to decide the same issues about the same rule presented by the same parties," the panel wrote.

Bullseye on WOTUS

Donald Trump's agriculture advisory committee really doesn't like WOTUS. Concerns about regulatory overreach bubbled to the top during the panel's first conference call Tuesday, several members said, and WOTUS is a glaring example of that. Many of the panel members ME spoke cited WOTUS, arguing that a Clinton presidency would just offer more of the same. "Farmers and ranchers cannot afford another four more years of those failed policies," Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said. "That's why I support Donald trump."