A federal appeals court said yesterday that red states' lawsuit over the Obama administration's definition of which streams and wetlands are subject to Clean Water Act protections should be dismissed as moot. Continuing to litigate the 2015 Clean Water Rule - which the Trump administration has since rewritten - would be overkill, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in an opinion led by Judge Raymond Kethledge. "During the 1930s, Winston Churchill was asked what Britain should do if Stanley Baldwin - then Lord President of the Privy Council, and a notorious advocate of appeasement - were to die in office," wrote Kethledge, a George W. Bush appointee. "'Embalm, bury, and cremate,' Churchill answered. 'Take no chances!' "The plaintiff States advocate a similar tack for the 'Clean Water Rule' here," Kethledge wrote.
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