BATON ROUGE, LA – In a major
victory for landowners in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas – a federal court
is preventing the enforcement of a burdensome and expensive government
regulation.
This week, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District
of Texas sided with Attorney General Jeff Landry and his counterparts in
Louisiana’s neighboring states by granting an injunction blocking the 2015
Waters of the United States (WOTUS) Rule.
“The Obama WOTUS Rule not only gave authority over dry channels,
roadside ditches, and isolated streams over to the federal government; but it
also subjected Louisiana families to expensive regulatory control and
oversight, as well as criminal and civil penalties,” explained General Landry.
“So this week’s court decision is a great victory for Louisiana’s farmers,
landowners, job creators, and taxpayers.”
The latest development comes a month after General
Landry and his colleagues filed a motion asking the court to expedite their
request for an injunction, a move necessary after a district court in South
Carolina overturned President Donald Trump’s effort to delay the WOTUS rule so
the Environmental Protection Agency could prepare a replacement rule. There
have been numerous other legal actions taken by General Landry to challenge the
Obama-era regulation, including a 22-state initiative to back the EPA’s notice
to repeal the rule.
“All along, the Obama WOTUS Rule has been an
unnecessarily harmful power grab by the federal government,” added General
Landry. “As an opponent of federal overreach, I applaud the court for this
decision to protect the sovereignty of states and the liberty of landowners.”
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