Obama's 'Forceful' Final WOTUS Defense

The Obama administration is fighting for a controversial water regulation until the very end of its tenure in power.

The Justice Department filed “a 245-page brief in defense of the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule that defines every water body in the nation, and determines whether they can be regulated under the Clean Water Act,” The Washington Post reported.

WOTUS is an update to Clean Water Act regulations that the U.S. EPA says is necessary because Supreme Court decisions obscure jurisdictional questions under the law.

The brief filed last week is “the administration’s most forceful defense of the rule,” the Post reported. Justice Department Assistant Attorney General John Cruden “said that by filing the brief, the court now has to consider it, and the lawyers prosecuting the case for the current administration will still be around to do so. To undo a rule, Cruden said, the Trump administration would have to take the same arduous path that the EPA and Army Corps took to create it.”

Legal challenges to the rule “should be denied because the rule is not arbitrary, capricious, or otherwise contrary to law,” the brief argues.

The legal fight over WOTUS will continue after the Obama presidency is over. The latest development in the multi-stakeholder legal battle is that the Supreme Court got involved this month. The court “agreed to decide whether challenges to the Environmental Protection Agency clean water rule, which seeks to clarify Clean Water Act jurisdiction, properly lie in federal district courts or a specific federal appeals court,” Bloomberg BNA reported.

“The high court Jan. 13 granted a request filed by the National Association of Manufacturers, which asked the court to determine whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit erred when it claimed exclusive jurisdiction to decide petitions to review the Obama administration’s waters of the U.S. rule,” the report said.

WOTUS backers frame the rule as beneficial to the everyday operations of water utility managers.

“When utilities can withdraw cleaner water, it means less treatment and cleaner drinking water at your tap. The Clean Water Rule provides clear protection for the streams that are used for drinking water by about 117 million people — that’s one in three Americans. Now those streams are clearly protected by the Clean Water Rule,” the EPA says in its materials describing the rule.

Opponents, including congressional Republicans and the agriculture industry, argue the rule constitutes government overreach. President-elect Donald Trump opposes the rule. An influential U.S. senator has argued that the rule poses a threat to water utilities.

“It’s time to come together to protect farmers, ranchers, water utilities, local governments, and contractors by giving them the clarity and certainty they deserve and stopping EPA and the Corps from eroding traditional exemptions,” said Senator Jim Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, in a statement.