On June 29th, thirteen states—Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming—filed a lawsuit in the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Missouri, challenging certain aspects of new regulations under the Clean Water Act as issued by the Environmental Protection Agency. No sooner was that lawsuit underway than nine other states—Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin—filed a similar lawsuit against the regulations in the US District Court for the Southern District of Georgia. Ohio and Michigan promptly filed a their lawsuit against the new regulations in US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. And now Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas have filed their suit, the fourth in this series, in Houston.
Twenty-seven states in all—even more than the current number of Republican candidates for president. If states’ rights are involved in something, chances are so is ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council), which, following the ALEC paradigm, focuses squarely on the states. Thus, it’s interesting to compare what’s being reported about the states’ claims in the 13-state lawsuit to what’s in ALEC’s “Resolution Regarding Clean Water Act Regulations of EPA Definition of ‘Waters of the U.S.’” which was issued October 11, 2014.