NAHB and other farm and business organizations filed a lawsuit today seeking to overturn a federal rule that defines the “waters of the United States” and the jurisdictional scope of the Clean Water Act.
The suit, which was brought against the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, charges that EPA and the Corps are “set and determined to exert jurisdiction over virtually every water feature imaginable.”
Declaring the rule “unlawful,” and stating that it must be “set aside,” the complaint stipulates that the rule “leaves the identification of jurisdictional waters so vague and uncertain that Plaintiffs’ members cannot determine whether and when the most basic activities undertaken on their land will subject them to drastic criminal and civil penalties under the Clean Water Act.”
The water rule, which will go into effect on Aug. 28, is important to the home building industry because it changes what areas can be regulated by the federal government under the Clean Water Act and when builders and developers must obtain federal permits.