The U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina has granted a 75 day stay on a challenge brought by an environmental group against the repeal of the 2015 Waters of the U.S. rule. National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Policy Division Chair and South Dakota producer Todd Wilkinson says the major concern with that is tying EPA’s hands up in the courts for an extended period of time.
He says NCBA backs both the repeal of the 2015 WOTUS and the newly proposed WOTUS by the Trump Administration. Wilkinson says the primary difference between the two is the definition of which waters fall under federal regulation and which don’t.
Wilkinson sees the argument over WOTUS as a battle over property rights. He says NCBA will continue backing the Trump Administration and its decision to repeal the 2015 WOTUS as well as the new rule they’re proposing.
The EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers signed the new WOTUS rule January 23 with that regulations scheduled to take effect in 60 days from that date.
