"A federal court judge in Texas issued a preliminary injunction against the Biden administration’s waters of the US, or WOTUS, rule late Sunday. The injunction applies only to Texas and Idaho.

The 2023 WOTUS rule takes effect Monday in the rest of the country and determines which waters and wetlands receive federal protection under the Clean Water Act.

US District Court Judge Jeffrey Vincent Brown wrote that Texas and Idaho, in Texas v. EPA, are likely to successfully challenge the rule’s imposition of Clean Water Act jurisdiction over all interstate waters regardless of navigability.

Since the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers finalized the new rule, which codifies a pre-2015 definition of WOTUS with some tweaks, at least 26 states as well as agricultural and industry groups have joined at least five lawsuits seeking to vacate the rule."

Bobby Magill reports for Bloomberg Environment March 20, 2023. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Judge Freezes Biden WOTUS Rule In 2 States" (E&E News) [3]