FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE :     Thursday, October 9, 2014
CONTACT:  Sara Rabern (605)773-3215   

 
Attorney General Jackley Joins Challenge to Environmental Protection Agency and Corp of Engineers Attempt to Broaden Federal Authority

 
PIERRE, S.D – Attorney General Marty Jackley, along with the Attorneys General of 10 States, filed comments today challenging a rule proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers which would broaden their powers under the federal Clean Water Act.  The proposed rule seeks to give authority over the development and use of intrastate water and land resources to the EPA and the Corps, in contravention of specific language in the Clean Water Act that gives primary responsibility over these resources to the States.

“The EPA and the Corps are overstepping their Congressional authority and seizing rights specifically reserved to the States,” Jackley said.  “The EPA and the Corps are creating uncertainty for farmers, developers and our agriculture community that need to have fairness and a degree of common sense in determining when a federal permit is needed.”

The proposed rule involves changes to definitions used in determining when permits are required by federal law to discharge into waters or to drain wetland areas.  Under the proposed rule, almost no waterway, creek, pond, wetland, or ditch would be considered solely intra-state and safe from federal regulation.  

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