Litigation Developments Related to the Clean Water Rule

On October 13, 2015, the U.S. EPA filed a Motion to Stay Proceedings in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota in light of the recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit staying nationwide enforcement of the Clean Water Rule. In their motion, EPA raised the issue as to whether the Sixth Circuit has exclusive jurisdiction to review the Clean Water Rule.

Also on the same day, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation denied a Motion to Transfer several civil actions challenging the Clean Water Rule to the District Court for the District of Columbia for centralized pretrial proceedings. The present motion to transfer concerns ten separate lawsuits filed in eight federal district courts involving the states of North Dakota, West Virginia, Ohio, Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Minnesota. 

The Panel denied centralization finding that the pending actions “will involve only very limited pretrial proceedings” and that “centralization of these actions would be problematic due to their procedural posture.” 

Written by Chloe Marie - Research Fellow

10/15/2015