Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays is visiting with the executive vice president of the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association, Michael Kelsey, about the preliminary injunction granted to over half of the states in the U.S. regarding the 2023 Waters of the U.S. Rule from taking effect.
Earlier this week, The U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota granted a preliminary injunction halting the 2023 WOTUS rule from taking effect in 24 states. With the court’s action and a recent decision from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, WOTUS has now been put on hold in 26 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
The back-and-forth on regulations pertaining to WOTUS and the Clean Water Act with each administration, Kelsey said, has gone on for too long.
“This new rule was very egregious, and it went back to, in large part, to the old Obama era rule,” Kelsey said. “There were some minor tweaks regarding some ponds and some of those types of things, but still the main language of those waterways that happen when it rains- and it will rain again sometime- those types of things, and just trying to do some water management on a farm or ranch, to prepare for drought and some of those types of things are just way out of bounds.”
Kelsey is appreciative of Attorney General Drummond’s participation in Oklahoma receiving this preliminary injunction. The EPA expressing authority beyond what Congress allows, Kelsey said, has only intensified over time.
“I think now, with the North Dakota ruling, we are up to 26 states of the total that now have a preliminary injunction,” Kelsey said.
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