Attorney General Alan Wilson, 25-State Coalition Support Abolition of Job-Killing Waters Rule

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) — September 28, 2017 South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson joined a 25-state coalition in support of permanently rescinding language used in the 2015 Waters of the United States rule.

The coalition filed its letter Wednesday as part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s ongoing review of the WOTUS rule. It encourages the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers to preserve the states’ role in protecting water resources by fully eliminating the Obama-era rule and enforcing pre-existing rules until more concise language can be adopted.

“This rule is nothing but an unconstitutional federal land grab that will hurt businesses in South Carolina,” said Attorney General Wilson.

The Obama-era regulation, if implemented, would have taken jurisdiction over natural resources from states and put it in the hands of federal agencies. This included almost any body of water, such as isolated streams, hundred-year floodplains and roadside ditches.

States that signed the letter include Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

You can read the letter here.