Attorney General Paxton Challenges EPA over "Unconstitutional, Illegal and Costly" New Water Rule

AUSTIN-According to a press release by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the attorney general Monday filed a lawsuit challenging the Obama Administration’s illegal attempt to expand the regulatory power of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by revising the regulatory definition of “navigable waters” under the Clean Water Act, which vastly expands its jurisdiction, threatening the ability of states and private property owners to use their own land. The rule violates the U.S. Constitution, federal law and U.S. Supreme Court precedent, and places costly burdens on landowners in Texas.

“The EPA’s new water rule is not about clean water – it’s about power,” Attorney General Paxton said. “This sweeping new rule is a blatant overstep of federal authority and could have a devastating effect on virtually any property owner, from farmers to ranchers to small businesses. If it moves forward, essentially anybody with a ditch on their property would be at risk of costly and unprecedented new regulations and a complicated web of bureaucracy. Texans shouldn’t need permission from the federal government to use their own land, and the EPA’s attempt to erode private property rights must be put to a stop.”

The EPA’s final rule, published today, is so broad and open to interpretation that everything from ditches and dry creek beds, to gullies, to isolated ponds formed after a big rain could be considered a “water of the United States.”

The EPA’s actions are inconsistent with U.S. Supreme Court precedent in SWANCC v. Army Corps of Engineers and Rapanos v. U.S., in which the Court ruled that the federal government exceeded its statutory authority by attempting to regulate areas never intended by Congress. The rule is contrary to the congressional intent of the Clean Water Act and infringes on the states’ ability to regulate their own natural resources.

Joining Texas in the lawsuit are the states of Louisiana and Mississippi. To view the filing, please visit: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/files/epress/files/2015/June/1%20-%20State's%20Complaint(1).pdf