Attorney General Miyares and 23-State Coalition Protect Ownership Rights of Water and Land

RICHMOND, Va. – Attorney General Jason Miyares and 23 other state attorneys general today announced that the United States District Court for the District of North Dakota issued a preliminary injunction against the Biden Administration's Environmental Protection Agency from implementing its final rule redefining Waters of the United States (WOTUS).

"The Biden Administration has a lengthy track record of using unelected agency bureaucrats to create overreaching rules, rather than the legislative process. This is yet another example of their desire to insert the federal government into every aspect of Virginians' lives – by controlling small bodies of water on private property. This unlawful regulation will hurt Virginia's agricultural and development industries, putting them at risk of criminal and civil penalties,” said Attorney General Miyares. "I'm glad the Court applied commonsense to reject the Biden Administration's latest overreach.”

In February, Attorney General Miyares joined a coalition of 24 states in a lawsuit against the EPA, asking a federal court to vacate the newly published final rule redefining WOTUS and declare it unlawful.

The coalition consisted of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Read Wednesday's order here.

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