A federal judge in North Dakota granted a preliminary injunction blocking the EPA from enforcing the infamous Waters of the United States rule. District Court Judge Ralph Erickson found that the 13 states who motioned for the injunction would be harmed if the courts did not act and that the states are likely to succeed based on the merits of the case. He called the rule “exceptionally expansive” and stated that the rule will “irreparably diminish the states’ power over their waters.”
However, late on Thursday, the Obama Administration announced that it would largely enforce the regulation as planned stating that the judge’s decision only applied to the 13 states that were parties to the suit, not all 50 states. On Friday the EPA announced they were enforcing the rule in the other 37 states not a party to the lawsuit.
