The Southern District Court of Texas has struck down a 2015 law known as Waters of the United States (WOTUS), giving the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) and the 13 other trade association litigants involved a win in dealing with wetlands.
The law covers which bodies of water are under federal jurisdiction. The Obama administration of 2015 decided that this included roadside ditches, which the coalition of trade groups have argued against ever since. They said it installed unnecessary federal oversight and delayed necessary infrastructure, causing a rise in costs.
“The court finds that the final rule violated the notice-and-comment requirements of the APA (Administrative Procedure Act) and therefore grants summary judgment in favor of the plaintiffs on this ground,” the court ruled. “The court remands the final rule to the appropriate administrative agencies for proceedings consistent with this order.”
That means the ball is back in the EPA’s court, at a time when the current Trump administration is already in the process of formally repealing the 2015 rule and creating a replacement WOTUS. Essentially, it means the Obama-era rule appears to be dead in the water — at least in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi — to the joy of ARTBA and other trade groups. The law remains in place for 22 other states.
The plaintiffs had argued the EPA ruling distorted U.S. Supreme Court precedent, subverted the notice-and-comment process and conducted an inadequate economic analysis buoyed by a distorted advocacy campaign.