Florida to Obama Administration: Keep Your Hands Off Our Water

The state of Florida made it clear Tuesday that federal oversight of local waters isn’t welcomed.

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that Florida had officially joined a bipartisan lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ “adoption of the final rule Clean Water Rule: Definition of Waters of the United States.” The rule, the state contends “would supplant Florida’s constitutional right to govern much of its own state waters.”

At issue is the broadening of the definition of “Waters of the United States to include intrastate waters such as minor creeks, roadside ditches, ponds, some wetlands, short-lived streams or any other area where water may flow once every 100 years,” a statement from Bondi’s office said.

Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putman issued a statement in support of the lawsuit.

“I thank Attorney General Pam Bondi and the other attorneys general for their leadership in defending states’ rights and holding the Obama Administration accountable for its federal overreach,” Putnam said. “The unconstitutional expansion of the EPA’s jurisdiction over the Waters of the United States not only infringes on states’ authority, but also it threatens the sound environmental protection programs we have in place today.”

Putnam went on to call the federal government’s move a “power grab” and said it has impacts on the whole state.

“Florida is a unique and diverse state, and arbitrarily expanding federal oversight to remote wetlands would undermine our strong wetlands protection and stormwater management regulatory programs we currently have in place,” Putnam said. “Diverting local, state and federal funds to marginal waters could dismantle environmental protection programs statewide.”

The lawsuit asks the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia to “declare the rule illegal, issue an injunction to prevent the federal government from enforcing it and order a new rule drafted that complies with the law and honors states’ rights,” Bondi’s statement said.

Other states involved in the lawsuit include Georgia, Virginia, Alabama, Kansas, Kentucky, South Carolina, Utah and Wisconsin.

It is unclear how soon the court will act.

The complaint can be read here.

Photo courtesy of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission