Another day, another federal judge demanding that Trump continue an unlawful, discretionary policy of the Obama administration.
On Thursday, South Carolina District Judge David Norton, a George W. Bush appointee, ruled that the Trump administration didn’t offer proper notice when it countermanded Obama’s “Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule.” Consequently, he is mandating that the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers continue regulating private property that contains streams, pools, and drainage ditches as commercial waters, in contravention of law.
The Clean Water Act granted the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers power to regulate navigable waters, which, to anyone who understands English, means large bodies of water that are used for transport by ships. In June 2015, as part of a series of lawless abuses of the Clean Water and Clean Air acts, President Obama unilaterally expanded the definition of “navigable waters” to include any seasonal stream of water that might run through private property as part of federal jurisdiction subject to water regulations.
Commercial ships and barges do not use streams and drainage ditches in farmland, yet with the stroke of a pen, Obama subjected them to cumbersome federal regulations that increased the burden for permitting needed for land development and even hurt existing landowners with threats of fines for what they do with their drainage on their own land. Under the rule, any low-lying area that could collect seasonal water could be subject to water regulations preventing farmers, ranchers, and foresters from operating certain equipment or bringing dirt, gravel, pesticides, and fertilizer into the area.
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Someone should put a barge in their ditch and challenge the government to say it's unlawful.
ReplyDeleteEasy just sign an executive order and assign the justice dept to sue until you find a reasonable judge that abides by the constitution
ReplyDeleteAs Usual these judges are wrong.
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ReplyDeleteSo who gave the green light for Jake to impede the navigation channel in the Wicomico River with his WWTP Jr. sprayer?
Corruption runs deep.
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