The environmental regulation is an attempt by ‘unelected bureaucrats to expand their own authority,’ West Virginia attorney general says
A coalition of 24 states filed a federal lawsuit against the Biden administration Thursday, arguing a recent environmental regulation is unlawful and would harm their residents.
The states — led by West Virginia, Georgia, Iowa and North Dakota — said in the lawsuit that the so-called Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule unveiled in late December is an attack on their sovereign authority regulating bodies of water and surrounding land. The lawsuit named the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the two agencies that signed off on the rule, as defendants in the case.
“This new final rule is a decades-long effort by the EPA to regulate purely intrastate waters without the explicit consent of Congress,” West Virginia Attorney General Morrisey said during a press conference Thursday. “This is yet another attempt from unelected bureaucrats to expand their own authority by broadly defining Waters of the United States.”