HOUSTON (AP) — Texas has asked a federal judge to block enforcement of a new rule that expands authority over which water bodies the U.S. government can regulate.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton made the request Tuesday in an 88-page court document. The request comes in the wake of a federal court ruling in North Dakota that blocked enforcement of the rule in 13 states that filed suit in that court. Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers in a federal court in Houston and aren’t affected by the North Dakota ruling last week.
The May rule would greatly expand federal authority under the Clean Air Act over the bodies of water the EPA can legally regulate, restoring protections to tributaries and wetlands.