Missouri joins in lawsuit over new water rules

Attorneys general from more than a dozen states, including Missouri, have come together to challenge a new federal rule regarding clean water regulations.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster announced Monday his decision to join in a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over the agencies' rule defining "waters of the United States."

Koster said the agencies "exceeded their legal authority in defining what constitutes U.S. waterways" and extend regulation beyond what a reasonable person considers to be a waterway.

The new federal rules were designed to better protect small streams, tributaries and wetlands, the agencies said, along with drinking water for 117 million Americans.

The effort also is an attempt to clarify which smaller waterways are under federal protection after Supreme Court decisions in 2001 and 2006 regarding the Clean Water Act left some uncertainty.

Those same attempts have drawn criticism from Republicans and agriculture leaders who, like Koster, believe they go too far.

The multistate lawsuit over the rule, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota, seeks an order declaring the rule is unlawful and prohibiting the agencies from implementing it.

Leading up to the day the rules were issued in May and in the following weeks, the EPA and the Army Corps have been working to dispel myths and allay any fears farmers may have about the Clean Water Act.

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy has stressed the only waters affected would be those with a "direct and significant" connection to already protected larger bodies of water downstream.

On its website, the EPA says the Clean Water Rule does not protect any types of waters that historically have not been covered by the Clean Water Act, add new requirements for agriculture, interfere with or change private property rights or regulate most ditches.

Many agriculture officials remain skeptical.

Koster cited in a news release from his office one example of overreach within the rule he finds troublesome.

"For example, the rule defines tributaries to include ponds, streams that flow only briefly during or after rainstorms and channels that are usually dry.

"The definition extends to lands within a 100-year floodplain -- even if they are dry 99 out of 100 years," the news release states.

Since announcing Missouri will join states such as North Dakota, Alaska, Arkansas and Colorado, several state agriculture groups have come out in support of Koster's decision.

Blake Hurst, president of the Missouri Farm Bureau, said the group applauds Koster for challenging the rule regarding waters of the U.S., while Missouri Agribusiness Association president Steve Taylor commended Koster's actions against a rule he said "ignores the critical concerns of Missouri agribusiness."

srinehart@semissourian.com

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