ARIZONA: The New Mexico Association of Commerce and Industry, New Mexico Mining Association, New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau, Arizona Mining Association (AMA), Arizona Farm Bureau, Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry, and Arizona Rock Products Association has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona challenging the U.S. EPA’s new rule dramatically expanding the scope of federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act.
“ACI has been submitting comments and sharing our concerns with the EPA over this issue for months,” said ACI President Jason Espinoza. “This misguided rule places farmers, ranchers, miners and other businesses under burdensome regulations that were never meant to apply to them. The result will be countless lost jobs and further hardship for struggling New Mexico families. ACI is proud to take a stand to protect New Mexicans from this reckless overreach.”
“New Mexico farmers and ranchers are already struggling with the effects of a five year drought, a tough economy, and countless other challenges,” said New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau CEO Chad Smith. “It defies common sense that the EPA now wants to pile on more regulations under a law intended for navigable waters. The massive costs this new rule will impose on the hardworking families who provide our food are simply unacceptable.”
“In essence, the EPA’s new rule is based on the concept that it can regulate drought-stricken, arid desert as ‘waters of the United States,’” said Mike Bowen, Executive Director of the New Mexico Mining Association. “We’re talking about places where water hasn’t run for years, decades, or even centuries, and then placing the businesses in those areas under restrictive new regulations.”
