Kansas AG joins lawsuit against new federal jurisdiction over water bodies

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach has joined a lawsuit to squash a federal rule that gives the government jurisdiction over new bodies of water.

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach says he has joined a coalition of more than 20 states to file a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency which asks a federal court to vacate the newly published final rule to redefine the Waters of the Unites and deem it illegal.

“The time has come for the federal government to stop its unconstitutional attempts to regulate every dry ditch and farm pond in Kansas,” Kobach said. “This lawsuit is about the original meaning of the Constitution, and we are going to hold the Biden administration to it.”

AG Kobach indicated that the new final rule redefines the geographic reach of the EPA’s and Army Corps of Engineers’ authority to regulate streams, wetlands and other bodies of water under the Clean Water Act. He said the move follows the Trump Administration’s 2020 Navigable Waters Protection Rule which offered a more restrained vision of federal jurisdiction.

Most notably, Kobach said the new rule redefines navigable waters to include ponds, certain streams, ditches and other bodies of water. He said the flawed and unlawful rule will affect farmers who may need to be granted permission to fill or dredge wetlands or waterways depending on whether they fall under the government’s purview. Developers, miners and other property owners who wish to make use of their land will also face implications.

What is more, the AG indicated that the lawsuit noted the rush to issue the rule, “even though the Supreme Court is expected to issue a key decision on the scope of WOTUS in just a few weeks’ time.”

The lawsuit indicated that “if the final rule is left in place, then ranchers, farmers, miners, homebuilders and other landowners across the country will struggle to undertake even the simplest of activities on their own property without fear of drawing the ire of the federal government.”

To read a full copy of the lawsuit, click HERE.