Court rules against EPA in case over coal job losses

[mountaineer]

Court rules against EPA in case over coal job losses
 By Timothy Cama - 10/17/16 05:17 PM EDT
The Hill

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not properly estimated the potential job losses in the coal and other industries affected by its regulations, a federal judge ruled Monday.

Judge John Preston Bailey of the District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia ruled in favor of coal mining company Murray Energy Corp. saying the Clean Air Act gives the EPA administrator a “non-discretionary duty” to track the potential job losses and shifts in employment from regulations written under the act.

The decision is a largely symbolic win for energy sectors hurt by EPA regulations, however, because there is no guarantee that job loss analyses would change the policies at issue.

Bailey, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, used his ruling to repeatedly admonish the EPA for arguing that its duty to track job losses is “discretionary" and that its current reviews are sufficient.

“With specific statutory provisions like Section 321(a), Congress unmistakably intended to track and monitor the effects of the Clean Air Act and its implementing regulations on employment in order to improve the legislative and regulatory processes,” Bailey wrote.

“The most EPA does is ‘conduct proactive analysis of the employment effects of our rulemaking actions,’ which is simply not what S 321(a) is about,” he said, quoting the agency’s argument.  ...

Judge Bailey was a law school classmate of Mr. Mountaineer.  Here's another story, from the newspaper in the town in which the district court is situated:

WHEELING — U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey on Monday ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is not in compliance with all aspects of the Clean Air Act of 1971, specifically a provision that requires the agency to evaluate potential job losses within an industry through the act’s enforcement.

Bailey, in his 64-page order, affirmed the position taken in March 2014 when Murray Energy Corp. and its subsidiaries, the plaintiffs in the civil lawsuit, sued the EPA and its administrator, Gina McCarthy, for not considering job losses within the coal industry as the agency implemented different aspects of the Clean Air Act.

Murray successfully argued that section 321(a) of the Clean Air Act requires the EPA to do such evaluations, and that the EPA had not followed the act’s rules.

Bailey gave the EPA until Oct. 31 to submit to the court a “plan and schedule for compliance with (section) 321(a) both generally and in the specific area of the effects of its regulations on the coal industry.”  ...

More from the Wheeling Intelligencer.

[mountaineer]

Editorial from the Wheeling W.Va. Intelligencer:

EPA Undeterred By Court Rulings
Oct 19, 2016

Let us hope there remains enough fidelity to the Constitution among U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials that a federal judge’s order on Monday means something to them. Unfortunately, recent history suggests that may be an unrealistic thought.

West Virginians, Ohioans and millions of other Americans who may not even understand the stakes won a victory Monday against President Barack Obama’s war on coal and affordable electricity. It came in the form of a ruling by U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey in Wheeling.

Bailey ruled in favor of Murray Energy Corp. and its subsidiaries in a lawsuit filed against the EPA. In essence, the ruling requires the agency to do something it has not — take into account the economic impacts of its assault against coal-fired power plants. That is required by the Clean Air Act of 1971, Bailey noted.

Murray, which operates mines in our two states and others, has filed six lawsuits against the EPA. Company President and CEO Robert Murray explained why on Monday, citing both closures of coal-fired power plants and job-killing shutdowns of the mines than fed them.

At least 411 coal-fired generating units in the United States have been shut down because of EPA action, Murray said. That eliminated an enormous supply of the “lowest-cost electric power available across the country,” he emphasized.

In addition, the EPA’s actions have meant “tens of thousands of coal miners have been put out of work, and their families are suffering,” Murray said.

The company, along with officials in several states, previously had been successful in gaining a U.S. Supreme Court order that the EPA delay implementation of Obama’s proposed Clean Power Plan — devised in spite of rather than in cooperation with Congress. If enforced, it will close more power plants and coal mines.

But it was the EPA’s reaction to that order that should concern many Americans who rely on affordable electricity from coal-fired power plants.

EPA officials have continued to move forward with the CPP, insisting they are merely helping states plan for it, not implementing it.

That is nonsense, of course. EPA officials know full well they are thumbing their noses at the Supreme Court. They also understand what they are doing encourages states to adopt CPP-compliant rules that will mean more power plant closures.

Bailey has ordered the agency to conduct the required evaluation of the economic effects of its actions. His decision reminds the agency its war on coal and affordable electricity has, in effect, been conducted illegally.

Unfortunately, Obama and his minions at the EPA have not let that worry them in the past.

Hillary already has vowed to put every coal mine out of business.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

This reflects how badly the way this toothless GOP has gone against the way our country operates.

The Constitution clearly provides that Congress, the body elected by the people, is the power that reins in the Executive.  This is not the role of Judicial.

Both the House and Senate are hiding and not doing their job.

Time to throw out these bums.