The day before the controversial rule formally known as the Waters of the US (WOTUS) was to be implemented, a federal judge in North Dakota has blocked it from taking effect.

U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson of North Dakota on Thursday issued a preliminary injunction against implementation of the Clean Water regulation, saying a group of 13 states was likely to succeed in their lawsuit challenging the Environmental Protection Agency regulation as unlawful. The judge gave two reasons for his decision: “(1)it appears likely that the EPA has violated its Congressional grant of authority in its promulgation of the Rule at issue and (2) it appears likely the EPA failed to comply with requirements when promulgating the Rule.”

North Dakota is one of the 13 states and Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said he was pleased with the ruling. “This is a victory in the first skirmish, but it is only the first,” said Stenehjem. “There is much more to do to prevent this widely unpopular rule from ever taking effect.”

The Attorney General for another state in the lawsuit, Missouri’s Chris Koster commented “In issuing the preliminary injunction, the federal court sent an unmistakable message to the EPA: You have gone too far. Missouri’s land and water resources should be regulated by officials accountable to the people of the state, not by arbitrary standards dictated from Washington DC.”

The ruling was just released at the very end of the day on Thursday, but reaction from farm organizations opposed to the rule is expected to be forthcoming any time now.