Environmentalists File New Legal Attacks Over 2020 WOTUS Rule

摘要

Two coalitions of environmental groups have filed new legal challenges to the Trump administration's narrowed definition of waters of the United States (WOTUS), arguing in cases filed in Massachusetts and South Carolina that the 2020 WOTUS rule violates federal water law and arbitrarily and capriciously excludes some waters from protection. The Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), Natural Resources Defense Council and six smaller environmental groups filed their suit April 29 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The suit claims EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers violated both the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and the Clean Water Act (CWA) when promulgating the rule, which was published in the Federal Register April 21. The CLF suit alleges EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers failed to meaningfully consider whether the 2020 rule will frustrate the CWA's sole objective of protecting the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the nation's waters, a consideration the complaint say is the most important aspect of the rulemaking.