‘This is a great day for coal miners in the U.S.’ leading coal operator says
The Environmental Protection Agency has been ordered to study the effects of President Obama’s Clean Power Plan regulations on jobs, Ken Ward reports for the Charleston Gazette-Mail. A federal judge in West Virginia said Monday that EPA has “14 days to submit a plan for completing the study of both the general jobs impact of air-pollution rules and the specific effects of such regulations on the coal industry.”
U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey “cited a section of the federal Clean Air Act which states that the EPA ‘shall conduct continuing evaluations of potential loss or shifts of employment which may result from the administration or enforcement’ of the law, including ‘where appropriate, investigating threatened plant closures or reductions in employment allegedly resulting from such administration or enforcement’,” Ward writes. “Bailey noted that Congress required such evaluations ‘to provide information which could lead the EPA or Congress to amend . . . prior EPA actions’.”
The case was brought by Robert E. Murray, CEO and owner of Murray Energy Corp., the largest independent coal producer in the U.S., an outspoken foe of the regulations, Ward writes. Murray said in a statement: “This is a great day for coal miners in the United States, and for all citizens who rely on low-cost electricity in America. We will continue to vigorously pursue this lawsuit, and all of our litigation initiatives, in order to protect the lives and livelihoods of coal miners and their families, to defend the rule of law, and to preserve reliable and low-cost electricity in our country.” (Read more)
Written by Tim Mandell Posted at 10/18/2016 10:06:00 AM
