(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."
