A federal judge in New York City has resurrected an Obama administration rule requiring farmers to enforce a 100-foot halo around pesticide applications, even if the halo extends outside the farm.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman ruled Dec. 29 that the Trump administration didn’t satisfactorily explain why it discarded the Obama rule in favor of restricted areas that end at a farm’s boundary.

Liman issued a temporary restraining order barring the Trump rule from taking effect until at least Jan. 12. The rule could expose farmworkers to drifting pesticides, he said in a written opinion.

“The harm is neither remote nor speculative. Its imminence is detailed in the studies currently before the court,” wrote Liman, who was appointed to the bench for the Southern District of New York by Trump.

The Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing the order, an agency spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The federal Worker Protection Standard prohibits pesticides from drifting and contacting people. The Obama EPA in 2015 created “pesticide exclusion zones,” finding the “no-contact” rule wasn’t enough.

The Trump EPA said the exclusion zones were unworkable because farmers can’t control property they don’t own. The new exclusion zones, confined to a farmer’s land, were due to take effect Dec. 29.

A coalition of farmworker advocates and five states, including California, have filed separate suits in New York, claiming the EPA’s reasons for reversing its policy were too flimsy.

In issuing the temporary restraining order, Liman said the farmworker groups are likely to win the suit.

The Obama EPA had cited pesticide-exposure studies to support its position that exclusion zones were needed to buttress the no-contact rule.

Liman said White House administrations can change policies, but that the Trump EPA failed to provide a reasonable explanation for why the studies cited by the Obama EPA no longer applied.

Liman set a hearing for Jan. 8 on whether to grant a preliminary injunction against the Trump rule.

Liman issued his ruling in the suit filed by nine farmworker organizations, including Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste, commonly known as PCUN and based in Woodburn, Ore.

New York, Minnesota, Illinois and Maryland joined California in the states’ suit.

Farm groups, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, supported the Trump exclusion zone rule.

The EPA rule sets minimal federal standards. States can adopt stricter standards.