Last week MDN told you about a George H.W. Bush district court judge in South Carolina who reversed EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s order ending the tragedy of Obama’s Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule (see Fed Judge Revives Obama Waters of US Tragedy in 26 States). WOTUS is important, because when you redefine everything down to a mud puddle (we’re not joking) as a “body of water” under the authority of the Clean Water Act, you effectively put all oil and gas drilling (and agriculture activities) under the thumb of the federal government. We were bummed about the judge’s decision. But we were focusing on the 26 states, including New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, that are now subject to WOTUS overreach. But what if we look at the glass as half-full instead of half-empty? Somehow, due to the vagaries of law, the other 24 states (or 33 states if you are Barack Obama, who once infamously said there are 57 states), are not under the Obama WOTUS rule. In other words, the glass is half-full–in particular for West Virginia which is not under WOTUS. The legal beagles at the Davis Wright Tremaine law firm flip the news around and look at the glass-half-full aspect of WOTUS…
