A 2015 rule that expands the federal government’s control over private land nationwide should be vacated in its entirety, attorneys argued in papers filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) and a broad coalition of business groups, along with the state of Texas and others, are suing to do away with the 2015 “waters of the U.S.” (WOTUS) rule issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers.

Plaintiffs say the rule is illegal for a host of reasons, including that it disregards statutory and Supreme Court requirements that federally regulated “waters” be at least closely connected to “navigable” water bodies. The 2015 rule instead regulates “vast tracts of the United States, including millions of miles of manmade ditches and municipal stormwater systems, dry desert washes and arroyos in the arid West and virtually all of the water-rich Southeast,” AFBF said.

“Because the rule violates the Constitution, the Clean Water Act and the Supreme Court’s precedents and is arbitrary and capricious under the APA [Administrative Procedures Act] — and in light of the devastating consequences that it would have on the economy — the rule must be vacated,” the filing noted.

Related:WOTUS injunction now in effect in 28 states

The current filings in Texas mark the third time a federal district court has been asked to strike the 2015 WOTUS rule. Federal courts in North Dakota and Georgia are also currently considering similar claims by dozens of states and business organizations. The rule has been temporarily blocked in dozens of states pending the outcome of the litigation.  

Meanwhile, the AFBF coalition filed further papers on Oct. 17 in support of its request that the court in Georgia expand its prior order to temporarily block the 2015 rule in the 22 states where it is now in force.

This filling in the Georgia court asked to expand the scope of the preliminary injunction to apply nationwide — or, alternatively, to apply additionally to Washington, D.C., California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.

The filing explained two critical developments have taken place since the initial ruling: “First, the Applicability Date Rule has been enjoined nationwide. Irreparable harm is, therefore, no longer a close call. The WOTUS rule has come into effect in those states where it has not been preliminarily enjoined, and it is fundamentally disrupting landowners’ use and enjoyment of their lands. Second, the court has granted leave to the business intervenors to participate in this action as party plaintiffs. That matters because the business intervenors are national organizations, with national memberships, suffering irreparable injury wherever the WOTUS rule is in effect. We agree with the government that the court should not alter its preliminary injunction to apply to non-parties; our point is that the parties presently before the court represent national interests warranting nationwide relief."

Related:EPA violated rulemaking procedures in WOTUS rule

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says that it is on track to issue a final rule replacing the Obama administration’s 2015 “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS)  rule by September 2019.

However, in the latest semiannual regulatory agenda released by the federal government, EPA estimates it will publish a proposed replacement rule this month, which aligns with pledges made recently by EPA acting administrator Andrew Wheeler.  However, the complex nature of the rulemaking process could make it difficult for EPA to meet the September 2019 target.