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Apr 20, 2017

My guest for this episode is Austin and Ft. Worth-based attorney, Jim Bradbury. Not only is Jim a well-known and brilliant agricultural law attorney, he is also an avid fly fisherman, outdoorsman, and is absolutely hilarious on Twitter (@jimbluewind).  As he explains, he has a variety of clients across Texas including everything from private landowners to major industry groups.  He advises clients in a number of areas, including environmental issues, conservation easements, oil and gas leases, and condemnation matters.

Today, our focus is the Waters of the United States ("WOTUS") rule.  We walk through some background on the Clean Water Act and the new rule defining WOTUS promulgated by the EPA and Corps of Engineers.  We then discuss legal challenges to the WOTUS rule and the recent Executive Order signed by President Trump.  Finally, we discuss why landowners are (or should be) concerned about this issue, and tackle it from a practical perspective, discussing how this really impacts landowners in the field.

When asked to share one agricultural law that he'd like to see changed, Jim mentioned eminent domain reform currently working its way through the Texas Legislature.  For anyone interested in reading those bills, they are SB740 and HB2684.

Lastly, Jim offered a restaurant recommendation and went with a fun location, Mr. Taco in Gonzales, TX, that he found using his "pick up truck rule."

 

Contact information for Jim Bradbury:

(Email) jim@bradburycounsel.com 

(Website) http://bradburycounsel.com/

(Twitter) https://twitter.com/jimbluewind 

 

Links to topics mentioned in the show:

Blog posts I've written discussing Waters of the United States

President Trump's Executive Order on WOTUS

USA v. Lipar  (Clean Water Act case out of Houston, TX)

Duarte Nursery v. Corps of Engineers

Photo of field at issue in Duarte case

TAMU White Paper on Eminent Domain

Texas Land Trust Council

 

 As always, thanks to Tell Runyan for providing the music for today's episode.