U.S. Supreme Court to Review EPA WOTUS Overregulation
The Barack Hussein Obama administration went crazy with over-regulation in many sectors. One of them was to redefine “waters of the United States” (or WOTUS) as everything down to, no exaggeration, mud puddles (see EPA Power Grab: Redefines Waters of the U.S. to Include Everything). When Donald Trump took office, he set about to correct some of the insane abuses of the Obama-era, including WOTUS. He finally got it fixed (see EPA & Army Corps Publish Final WOTUS Regs – Obama Overreach Fixed). However, last fall a radical federal judge appointed by Obama once again plunged the country back into madness by re-enacting Obama’s abuses under WOTUS (see Obama Fed Judge Shackles Country with Obama WOTUS Once Again). Finally, the U.S. Supreme Court is going to hear a case that will (hopefully) put all of this insane nonsense to rest.
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The Pennsylvania Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) has banned the spreading of conventional oil and gas brine for any purpose on its over 6,500 miles of roads in PA State Forests. A majority of those roads are dirt and gravel. The ban also applies to all State Park roads (although most of those roads are paved and don’t need water for dust suppression, so it’s an empty gesture).
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Earlier this week MDN told you that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf swiftly vetoed a Senate resolution sent to him that would block PA from joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), nothing more than a carbon tax that won’t actually reduce carbon emissions (see 
West Virginia House of Delegates member Lisa Zukoff (Democrat from Marshall County) is making a bold claim: Some out-of-state property owners aren’t paying taxes on oil and gas royalties, and it is costing the state millions of dollars in lost revenue. Zukoff is (once again) introducing a bill in the annual two-month session of the state legislature that requires gas and oil companies to subtract any taxes from the royalty check before it is sent to the property owner.
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