An air of change is blowing through Washington today as Donald Trump took the Oath of Office, becoming the nation’s 45th President. Scott Yager of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association tells Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays that Trump and his team, particularly his Environmental Protection Agency Administrator nominee, Scott Pruitt, assuming he is confirmed to the post, will act on their statements that repeal of overreaching regulations like the Waters of the US rule will be a top priority for the new administration. In the meantime though, the Supreme Court has decided to step in with some direction on how WOTUS should be handled for the time being.
“We are in the courts right now fighting the rule,” Yager said, bringing Hays up to speed on the status of the rule that’s been stayed by the courts. “We are on different levels of the court, so we have the meat of the case, or the ‘merits briefing,’ and is taking place in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.”
Yager asserts that NCBA fundamentally disagrees with the case starting at that level, insisting instead it is appropriate to begin the process at the District Court level, citing language in the Clean Water Act and adding too that the WOTUS rule goes “above and beyond” the Interstate Commerce Clause, an is in and of itself unconstitutional. NCBA has reached out to the Supreme Court about this matter, which has answered in turn, and favorably for their cause, according to Yager.
“It’s great news for cattle producers and any land owners across the country because it shows that the Supreme Court is interest in WOTUS,” Yager points out. “They’re going to determine where the case starts at, so we’re going to continue fighting this battle.”
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