Judge Presses DOJ On Whether Administration Supports 2015 CWA Rule

摘要

A federal district judge at a May 31 hearing had tough questions for the Department of Justice (DOJ) on whether it stands behind the 2015 Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction rule that the Trump administration plans to withdraw, raising doubts on regulators' attempts to stay neutral while the repeal effort is underway, says an attorney.Southeast Environmental Law Center (SELC) attorney Blan Holman, who attended the hearing, told Inside EPA that District Judge Lisa G. Wood "demanded" that DOJ attorneys answer questions about the government's current position on the legality of the CWA rule.The question came during a hearing in State of Georgia, et al., v. EPA, et al., which is a challenge to the 2015 rule by 11 GOP-lcd states that recently resumed under the Supreme Court's decision that the rule should be litigated in district, rather than appellate, courts. The state plaintiffs are asking the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia to issue a preliminary injunction that would bar enforcement of the CWA rule until litigation ends.