June 4, 2013 –Wichita Falls native and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today, Tuesday, June 4 praised a federal court decision overturning a federal emergency rule that shortened the red snapper recreational fishing season in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a news release from the Texas Attorney General's Office today.
Abbott, who may run for governor if Rick Perry decides not to in the upcoming election, said, "This is the latest example of the federal government getting slapped down for illegal, overreaching regulations. This is a big win for Texas fishermen, jobs along the Gulf Coast and……most importantly…..the rule of law."
The Texas attorney general went on to criticize the Commerce Department for attempting to punish the Lone Star State because federal bureaucrats disagreed with state rules about fishing in state waters.
The federal district court in its opinion, said that the U.S. Commerce Department's actions were "ludicrous, totally unacceptable and amounted to the federal government telling the states that if you do something we don'tlike, we will punish your citizens."
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the state agency responsible for protecting Texas' fish and wildlife resources, predicted that the proposed federal action could have amounted to a loss of as much as $1 million per day for each day the federal red snapper season was shortened.
Read the full story at The Examiner