Nashville—Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III has joined a 23-state coalition to protect Tennessee property owners, farmers and energy producers.

The motion to intervene, filed late Monday, seeks to ensure the court considers Tennessee’s interests and that of its coalition partners when it decides a challenge brought by a separate group of attorneys general led by New York and California.

The coalition urges a federal district judge to uphold the Trump Administration’s Navigable Waters Protection Rule, which gives greater certainty to farmers and landowners with predictable and reasonable lines between waters subject to federal and state regulation.

The coalition also opposes a motion that would keep the new rule from going into effect anywhere in the country while the case moves forward.

“States are the primary regulators of land and water resources, and this Office will continue to support protections for individual property owners from federal encroachment,” said General Slatery.

The rule also corrects flaws within the Obama-era regulation, Waters of the United States, which extended the authority of the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers far beyond what Congress intended and the Constitution permits.

Read the coalition’s motion to Intervene in Support of Defendants here: https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/pr/2020/pr20-22-motion.pdf

Read [Proposed] State Intervenors’ Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction here:  https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/pr/2020/pr20-22-opposition-to-pi.pdf

Both were filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Tennessee joined the motion to intervene, led by West Virginia and Georgia, along with attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.

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Press Release #20-22:  AG Slatery Takes Action to Protect Tennessee Property Owners