INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ Indiana has decided to join a lawsuit challenging an Obama administration rule that gives federal agencies authority to protect some streams, tributaries and wetlands under the Clean Water Act.
Attorney General Greg Zoeller announced Monday the state would join the multistate action that challenges as unconstitutional the EPA's redefinition of the state's streams, creeks, ponds and wetlands as the “waters of the United States.''
Small bodies of water have always been under state jurisdiction. Zoeller says the rule change placing them under federal authority could force agricultural operations that discharge any water or wastewater to obtain expensive federal permits or face stiff civil penalties over the runoff.
Zoeller says the rule is “needlessly burdensome'' to farmers, homeowners and businesses.
