In an order handed down on October 9, the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati halted implementation of the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers’ Clean Water Rule nationwide. The order supersedes the August 27 preliminary injunction by the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota, which halted implantation of the Clean Water Rule for 13 states (Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming).
The Sixth Circuit ruling was in response to a challenge brought by 18 states that questioned the legality of the Clean Water Rule, with the judge writing in the majority decision that “we conclude that petitioners have demonstrated a substantial possibility of success on the merits of their claims.”