Texas, Other States Challenge EPA Over New Water Rule

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Monday challenging an Obama Administration rule that gives federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, greater authority of waterways under the Clean Water Act. Louisiana and Mississippi joined Texas in the lawsuit filed in Houston, which argues the new definition of "Waters of the United States" is too broad and open to interpretation. The EPA said the waters affected would only be those with a "direct and significant" to larger bodies of water downstream that already protected. "The EPA's new water rule is not about clean water – it's about power," Paxton said in a statement. "This sweeping new rule is a blatant overstep of federal authority and could have a devastating effect on virtually any property owner, from farmers to ranchers to small businesses. If it moves forward, essentially anybody with a ditch on their property would be at risk of costly and unprecedented new regulations and a complicated web of bureaucracy. Texans shouldn't need permission from the federal government to use their own land, and the EPA's attempt to erode private property rights must be put to a stop." The new rule was finalized May 27 and currently set to go into effect Aug. 28. Thirteen other states led by North Dakota filed lawsuit Monday in a federal court in Bismarck, asking the rule be thrown out.  AP