California Federal Judge Remands WOTUS Rule While Questioning Vacatur

摘要

A federal district court judge in northern California has joined other courts in remanding the Trump-era waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule to EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers, suggesting vacatur is unwarranted but declining to rule definitely on the vacatur issue because another district court has already vacated the rule. In a pair of Sept. 16 orders, Chief Judge Richard Seeborg of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California grants the agencies' request for voluntary remand and dismissal of Waterkeeper Alliance, et al. v. EPA, et al., and California, et al. v. Regan, et al. He notes that the plaintiffs in both cases oppose remand unless the Trump-era rule is vacated but says the "issue of whether vacatur is warranted or not appears to be moot" given that Judge Rosemary Marquez of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona issued an order Aug. 30 vacating the rule in Pascua Yaqui Tribe, et al. v. EPA, et al.