Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt filed another lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday, this time over the definition of water.
Pruitt’s lawsuit, filed in Tulsa federal court, claims that a new rule promulgated June 29 illegally redefined the “waters of the United States” in a move that he described as executive overreach and flatly contrary to the will of Congress.
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Pruitt claims that the EPA’s broad redefinition of long-standing regulatory jurisdiction places virtually all land and water under an untenable regulatory burden, according to a statement released by his office.
“Respect for private property rights have allowed our nation to thrive, but with the recently finalized rule, farmers, ranchers, developers, industry and individual property owners will now be subject to the unpredictable, unsound, and often byzantine regulatory regime of the EPA,” Pruitt said in the statement. “I, and many other local, state and national leaders across the country, made clear to the EPA our concerns and opposition to redefining the ‘Waters of the U.S.’
“However, the EPA’s brazen effort to stifle private property rights has left Oklahoma with few options to deter the harm that its rule will do.”
The EPA says the new rule provides “greater clarity and certainty to farmers” and claims that it does not add an economic burden on agriculture.
“The Clean Water rule ensures that waters protected under the Clean Water Act are more precisely defined, more predictably determined, and easier for businesses and industry to understand,” the agency states on its website.
“Activities like planting, harvesting, and moving livestock have long been exempt from Clean Water Act regulation, and the Clean Water Rule doesn’t change that,” the EPA’s statement continues.
The lawsuit, assigned to U.S. District Judge Claire Eagan, asks for a declaration that the rule is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and illegal.
The lawsuit also asks for declarations that the rule is unconstitutional and that the agency exceeded its authority when it enacted the rule, which becomes effective Aug. 28.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, along with EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and Jo-Ellen Darcy, assistant secretary of the Army for civil works.
This marks the second lawsuit in as many weeks Pruitt has filed against the EPA in Tulsa federal court. Last week, he asked a federal judge to halt the EPA’s plan to enact new rules designed to reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants.
Pruitt is also a party to several previous lawsuits challenging the EPA’s regulatory limits.
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9 comments:
Linda Quinn posted at 6:39 pm on Thu, Jul 9, 2015.
For some unknown reason, he wants us drinking sludge water, wearing gas masks and uninsured. I agree with you Dana, it's all about Obama.
Brian Curtis posted at 1:33 pm on Thu, Jul 9, 2015.
Funny how the ones complaining about "regulatory burden" are always the ones trying to get away with killing people.
Sharon Caliendo posted at 1:21 pm on Thu, Jul 9, 2015.
He is term limited but what is he going to run for next to stay on the taxpayer rolls while wasting our tax dollars on all the lawsuits he loses. When are Oklaomans going to wake up and figure out electing these hard right social conservatives is costing us a lot of tax dollars. He has proven he was unqualified to be AG -- talked a good talk but that is all it was -- talk. Now his favorite pasttime is to sue the Federal Government and lose.
Dana Asher posted at 1:04 pm on Thu, Jul 9, 2015.
ENOUGH OKLAHOMA!!!!!!!!!!! Vote out AG Scott(bend over its Devons turn)Pruitt!!!
This guy has wasted thousand of taxpayers dollars on "whipping the black man" in Washington through his dislike of the EPA!!!!!!!
Jim(war profiteer)Inhofe must be wetting his pants with joy every time AG Scott(bend over its Devons turn)Pruitt files a suit!!
John Swofford posted at 12:48 pm on Thu, Jul 9, 2015.
It can't be considered a good fight if you constantly lose Gordon.
Dianna Smith posted at 11:48 am on Thu, Jul 9, 2015.
Oh my Freakin God! STOP this man!! He is a fool who is wasting our hard earned money on ridiculous lawsuits.
James Dunham posted at 7:16 am on Thu, Jul 9, 2015.
When elected, Mr. Pruitt had virtually no experience as a trial lawyer, at all. [The legal community was acutely aware of this, but hey: who listens to them?] He was, nonetheless, swept into an office for which he was grossly unqualified by Oklahoma's quadrennial red waves. While trial experience teaches when to storm into the valley of death and when to simply decree victory and leave the field, Mr. Pruitt has no instinct for that, at all - not in the least. He blindly plays to the base. He doesn't have a clue if his efforts will advance the state's legitimate interests, nor does he care. What he does care about is staging (at taxpayer expense), one dog-and-pony show after another, all the way to the governor's mansion.
Gordon Mills posted at 7:15 am on Thu, Jul 9, 2015.
Keep up the good fight, Scott.
Tom.tuttle kc posted at 7:36 pm on Wed, Jul 8, 2015.
Why does OK have to bring forward these igits that are aligned with the most conservative voters in the country? What can we do to stop the zealots?