Alabama has recently joined 23 other states in suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over a “bureaucratic power grab.”
The states are requesting a federal court void a new rule that redefines the “Waters of the United States”. The new rule would declare the current regulation as unlawful.
Critics say this would harm landowners because it would make it more difficult for them to make improvements on their property.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said management of Alabama waters should be handled by the state, not the federal government.
“This new final rule is another bureaucratic power grab by the Biden Administration that will have negative effects on Alabamians,” he said. “In Alabama, we have one of the nation’s most diverse and robust aquatic ecosystems, and the responsibility of managing those waters rests first with the state of Alabama, not federal bureaucrats.
“This new EPA rule will make it more difficult for many farmers, property owners, homebuilders, and others to make simple improvements to their own property.”
The new rule also seeks to define the reach of the EPA’s and Army Corps of Engineers’ authority in regulating streams, wetlands, and other bodies of water under the Clean Water Act. It also redefines the term “navigable waters” to include ponds, certain streams, ditches, and other bodies of water under the Clean Water Act.
The lawsuit discusses the negative effect the new rule could have on a number groups, including ranchers, farmers, and miners.
“If the final rule is left in place, then ranchers, farmers, miners, homebuilders, and other landowners across the country will struggle to undertake even the simplest of activities on their own property without fear of drawing the ire of the federal government,” the suit reads.
“Landowning Americans of all stripes will thus be left with a choice: (a) fight their way through an expensive and lengthy administrative process to obtain complex jurisdictional determinations and permits or (b) face substantial civil and criminal penalties.”
Along with Alabama, the states are Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia, and Wyoming.
Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News.
