The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association has filed a friend of the court brief with the National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau in a groundwater case that will be before the Supreme Court. NCBA Environmental Counsel Scott Yager says they’re challenging the government’s ability to regulate groundwater under the Clean Water Act.

He says there’s never been groundwater enforcement under the Clean Water Act and if the Supreme Court rules it can be regulated producers will face increased liability they’ve never faced before.

Yager says Congress never intended for groundwater to be regulated under the Clean Water Act and that’s what they’re pointing out in their brief.

Yager says the Supreme Court is expected to hear oral arguments in the case this fall.