FROM THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA:
Florida joined a multistate lawsuit Tuesday against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ adoption of a rule that expands federal pollution controls. The lawsuit, filed in a federal district court in Georgia, contends that the technical “Clean Water Rule: Definition of Waters of the United States” supplants states’ constitutional rights to govern their own waters. The lawsuit claims the rule is “the latest and most significant overreach” by the two agencies against state rights.
The “expanded definition would have a unique and tremendous impact on Florida specifically, given our state’s vast amount of wet lands and agriculture,” according to a news release from Bondi’s office. “We cannot allow Floridians to bear the brunt of these types of costly and burdensome federal regulations, which would have a significant negative impact on local government, business and households all across our state,” Bondi said in the release.
Bondi received support for taking part in the lawsuit from Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam and the H2O Coalition, which is led by the business advocacy group Associated Industry of Florida. The EPA contends the rule is intended to clarify the water bodies that fall under the anti-pollution provisions of the 1972 Clean Water Act.
“While we can’t comment on the lawsuit, it’s important to remember that EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finalized the Clean Water Rule because protection for many of the nation’s streams and wetlands had been confusing, complex, and time-consuming as the result of Supreme Court decisions in 2001 and 2006,” the EPA said in a release.
In announcing the rule on Saturday, the EPA declared the rule to be “grounded in law and the latest science,” and said it doesn’t create new permitting requirements for agriculture. Florida joins Georgia, West Virginia, Alabama, Kansas, Kentucky, South Carolina, Wisconsin and Utah in the lawsuit. Kentucky is the only state among those filing the suit with a Democrat as state attorney general.