Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller expressed outrage that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers issued a final rule on Aug. 29 defining Waters of the United States (WOTUS) without a public comment period. He made his views known in a statement the day the regulation was issued.
“It is outrageous that the EPA is immediately implementing the WOTUS rule without formal public input from the people. They are cramming this down the throats of farmers and ranchers across the country," his statement said. "The Texas Department of Agriculture has prior legal rulings that prohibit this overreach from being enforced in our great state."
“Today’s amendments claim to conform the WOTUS rule to legal precedent, but they don’t come close to fixing the problems this rule presents to agriculture," he wrote.
The background is complicated. "Waters of the United States," or WOTUS, means waters that are subject to federal regulation under the Clean Water Act (CWA). The CWA doesn't define which waters are WOTUS and which are not, so the EPA and the Army have historically defined their meaning and the federal government's regulatory reach by issuing regulations, which have gone back and forth between more reach and less reach since 2015 and have been challenged repeatedly in court, the National Association of Counties (NACO) explains on a web page.
The EPA and the Army issued WOTUS rules extending the federal reach in December 2022. The state of Texas challenged that definition in a lawsuit on Jan. 18, state Atty. Gen. Kenneth Paxton announced in a news release.
On March 19, "the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas issued an order enjoining the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers from implementing the WOTUS rule in Texas, Miller wrote. "This means the court order will stay in effect, thanks to the work of TDA and others."
Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on May 25 in another case, Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, that the EPA had overreached in its definition of WOTUS, the NACO web page says.
The new EPA rule issued on Aug. 29 rewrites the definition of WOTUS "to conform key aspects of the regulatory text to the U.S. Supreme Court's May 25, 2023, decision in the case of Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency," EPA says on a web page. However, neither on that page nor in an accompanying press release did the EPA say anything about the Texas court order, which remains in effect for Texas.
“Today’s [EPA] amendments claim to conform the WOTUS rule to legal precedent, but they don’t come close to fixing the problems this rule presents to agriculture. The negative impacts of this rule are still tremendous. We will continue to fight for the rights of farmers and ranchers,” Miller wrote.
Miller graduated from Tarleton State University with a degree in vocational agriculture education, was elected to the State House of Representatives in 2000, and was then elected as Texas' 12th Commissioner, his official state bio says. He was reelected in 2018 and 2022. With eight generations of farmers and ranchers in his family, including himself, Miller is known for strongly defending Texas agriculture, radically increasing consumer protection inspections, and advocating for Texas-owned and operated businesses. His work in defending Texas businesses has led to saving thousands of jobs and companies in the state, the bio says.
