The Clean Water Rule: Senate Joint Resolution 22, update...

I wanted to update you on the progress of Senate Joint Resolution 22, which proposes to prevent the implementation of the Clean Water Rule.

The resolution passed the House on January 13, 2016, with a Yea-Nay vote of 253-166.

The resolution was presented to President Obama on January 19, 2016, and he vetoed the resolution on January 20, 2016.

It appears that no further action has been taken by the Senate at this time - "Veto message indefinitely postponed by Senate by Unanimous Consent." 

We continue to wait on a decision by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on the limited question of whether the court has jurisdiction to hear the consolidated cases brought by 31 states and others against the EPA challenging the Clean Water Rule. If the court finds that it does have jurisdiction, it will then consider the allegations brought against the Clean Water Rule.

The allegations posed against the Clean Water Rule are: it is not a logical outgrowth of the proposal; the Administrative Procedure Act was not adhered to; the rule is unconstitutional in its regulation of intrastate waters; and parts of the rule are considered arbitrary and capricious. The oral arguments were presented to the court on December 8, 2015.

Since there is a nationwide court-ordered stay on the Clean Water Rule (as of October 9th, 2015), it could be weeks or months before the Sixth Circuit comes to a decision on their jurisdictional issue.

​Waiting with bated breath!

- JMB

Sources:
www.congress.gov
Sixth Circuit Hears Arguments Over its Jurisdiction to Decide WOTUS Challenge, by
     Katerina Milenkovski, January 5, 2016 ( http://www.environmentalessentials.com)