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NCBA welcomes the Supreme Court’s intervention on WOTUS

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) is applauding the Supreme Court’s decision to take up the jurisdiction dispute involving EPA’s Clean Water Act rule, also known as Waters of the U.S., or WOTUS.

The nation’s top court announced late last week it will decide which lower courts have jurisdiction to hear challenges to the WOTUS rule.

“It’s great news for cattle producers and landowners across the country, because its shows that the Supreme Court is interested in WOTUS,” says NCBA environmental counsel Scott Yager. “They’re going to hear our case this spring and they’re going to determine where our case starts at. So we’re going to continue fighting this battle.”

NCBA and other ag groups want the lawsuit to be heard in district court, while the Obama administration has fought to keep the litigation in appellate court.  The ag groups feel they have a better chance of success by starting at the district court level.

The ultimate fate of the litigation remains uncertain as the incoming Trump administration could take steps to eliminate the rule. Yager is hopeful that will happen.

“The Trump Administration has stated that WOTUS is a priority. It’s on their transition web site,” he says. “How we would hope it plays out is that the EPA reconsiders it and ultimately withdraws it and starts fresh with all stakeholders at the table—from the start.”

Efforts are also underway in Congress to force EPA to withdraw the WOTUS rule.