Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall released a statement after learning that Alabama and a coalition of 23 other states secured a preliminary injunction against the Biden Administration’s Waters of the United States (WOTUS) Rule.
AG Marshall believes the WOTUS Rule represents an unprecedented expansion of federal authority over questions of local land management. The preliminary injunction halts enforcement of the rule in Alabama and the other plaintiff states pending further judicial review.
“The Biden Administration’s latest power grab has been brought to a halt with the court’s announced injunction against the WOTUS Rule,” said Attorney General Marshall. “While the Clean Water Act granted the federal government important powers to regulate ‘navigable waters’ like rivers, the Biden Administration seeks to claim authority over even isolated ditches and ponds. But these local matters are reserved to the States, which are best equipped to manage them. Alabama, its farmers, and landowners play a critical role in protecting our dynamic and robust aquatic ecosystems, and managing local waters is their responsibility, not that of a bureaucrat in Washington.”
In February, Attorney General Marshall joined a coalition of 24 states in a lawsuit against the EPA, asking a federal court to vacate the newly published final rule redefining WOTUS and declare it unlawful—West Virginia, Georgia, Iowa, and North Dakota were joined in the lawsuit by Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming.
In March, U.S. Senators Tommy Tuberville and Katie Britt voted in favor of a formal challenge to the WOTUS rule through a Congressional Review Act (CRA) joint resolution of disapproval.
“The Biden administration is using the same playbook as the Obama administration — blatant land grabs and burdensome regulations,” said Sen. Tuberville. “These policies hurt our farmers and landowners and do virtually nothing for our environment or our water resources. Our farmers and landowners need consistency, and for the federal government to get out of the way. Today I voted to block the President’s land grab attempt and stand up for Alabama farmers and producers.”
