Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has asked a federal judge to halt the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new water rule that expands the federal governments jurisdiction over navigable waters under the Clean Water Act.
Paxton said the rule is overreaching and illegal, violating the Constitution and federal law. He also said that it violates a precedent set by two Supreme Court cases that ruled the federal government should not infringe on a states’ right to regulate their own natural resources by placing regulations on areas not intended by Congress to be under federal jurisdiction.
“This lawsuit is about reining in the EPA’s blatant overstep of federal authority,” Paxton said. “Their latest attempt to control private and public lands and waters puts all Texas property owners at risk, making everything from ditches to dry creek beds subject to costly federal regulation. We must protect Texans’ ability to use their own property, and my office will continue to fight the Obama administration’s overly broad and unconstitutional water rule in court.”
Paxton filed a lawsuit June 29 against the EPA’s water rule on behalf of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. A preliminary injunction was issued in North Dakota, but was limited to 13 states. The case filed by Paxton is under review to decide if similar cases should be consolidated.