Attorney General Paxton successfully halted the implementation of a new, burdensome Biden Administration regulation that would have limited Texans’ freedoms and hampered economic growth.  

“While I continue to battle the rule in court, this preliminary injunction is a major blow to the Biden Administration’s radical environmental agenda,” said Attorney General Paxton. “The unlawful rule would have saddled Texans across the state with crushing new regulations, slowing our state’s economic development and limiting our job growth. Securing an injunction stops the rule from going into effect. This is an important victory protecting the people of Texas from destructive federal overreach.” 

Biden’s “waters of the United States” (“WOTUS”) rule seeks to vastly expand the federal government’s regulatory power to include much of America’s waters, despite Congress expressly narrowing federal authority to only “navigable waters.” This attempt by the Biden Administration to arbitrarily and unlawfully expand the scope of its power would have dire consequences in several sectors, including energy, agriculture, and transportation infrastructure. 

Attorney General Paxton sued Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over the unlawful WOTUS rule in January—the same day the rule was published in the Federal Register—and he moved for a preliminary injunction in February. The court order halts the enactment of the rule in the state of Texas, as well as the state of Idaho, indefinitely, pending further order of the court. 

The rule is also being challenged by other states in North Dakota and in Kentucky federal courts. The states there moved for a preliminary injunction but have not yet received one.   

To read the full court order, click here.