Posted on 08/21/2012 10:15:54 AM PDT by jazusamo
A federal court has struck down an Environmental Protection Agency rule that forces cuts in soot- and smog-forming power plant emissions that cross state lines, dealing a major blow to the White House's air quality agenda.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule that forces cuts from plants in 28 states in the eastern half of the country, finding that it exceeds EPA’s powers under the Clean Air Act.
The 2-1 court decision Tuesday is a victory for industry groups, some states and GOP lawmakers, who alleged the rule would create economic burdens and force the closure of substantial numbers of coal-fired power plants.
The court decision instructs EPA to continue administering a less aggressive, George W. Bush-era rule called the Clean Air Interstate Rule.
The judges said the Obama administration rule allows EPA to “impose massive emissions reduction requirements on upwind states without regard to the limits imposed by the statutory text.”
Several states, including Texas, Alabama and Georgia, challenged the rule alongside the National Mining Association, power companies and other parties. But other states such as New York and Delaware, as well as environmental groups, joined the case in defense of EPA.
Capitol Hill Republicans have taken aim at the rule, passing legislation in the House to scuttle it and force EPA to re-write the restrictions. But a bid to nix the rule in the Senate fell well short of the needed votes last November.
Environmentalists lamented the ruling.
“The court's decision significantly imperils long overdue clean air safeguards for millions of Americans,” said Vickie Patton, general counsel of Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), in a statement. “EDF will immediately seek corrective action to protect the lives of Americans harmed by power plant smokestack pollution.”
EPA, when finalizing the rule in the summer of 2011, said substantially cutting sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions would bring public health benefits that far outstrip the projected costs.
The agency estimated that the rule, when phased in, would prevent up to 34,000 premature deaths, 15,000 nonfatal heart attacks and 19,000 cases of acute bronchitis annually.
The two judges who vacated the rule said they were not commenting on the “wisdom or policy merits” of the rule.
They said they vacated the rule because it runs afoul of EPA’s power under the air law’s “good neighbor” provisions, which enable the agency to force reductions in emissions that pollute the air in downwind states.
They noted that Congress gave EPA the power to require “upwind” states to reduce pollution that contributes to downwind states’ failure to meet federal air quality standards. However, under the Cross-State rule, the judges said that “upwind States may be required to reduce emissions by more than their own significant contributions to a downwind State’s nonattainment.”
The judges also said the rule didn’t give states an initial opportunity to make reductions from pollution sources within their borders. “Instead, EPA quantified States’ good neighbor obligations and simultaneously set forth EPA-designed Federal Implementation Plans, or FIPs, to implement those obligations at the State level. By doing so, EPA departed from its consistent prior approach to implementing the good neighbor provision and violated the Act,” the ruling states.
The decision was cheered by the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, a group that represents power companies with coal-fired plants. The group said the ruling is a shot across EPA’s bow that leaves adequate protections in place.
“Not only in this interstate rule case, but also in regional haze rules, consideration of implementation plans, and in permitting decisions, EPA has not showed sufficient respect or deference to state programs. Today’s decision is a stern warning against EPA’s recent views,” the group said.
Spot on!
EPA Ping!
I once thought that Lisa Jackson had to go.
Now I think it is time that the EPA to go.
There are a bunch of little Lisa Jackson’s to take her place.
It looks that way and sincerely hope that’s the case, the EPA has gotten way out of hand.
The list, Ping
Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list
Never forget that it was a Republican (Nixon) who got this ball rolling.
Someone said by Executive Order. Please correct me if I am wrong on that point.
From Wikipedia;
” On July 9, 1970, citing rising concerns over environmental protection and conservation, President Richard Nixon transmitted Reorganization Plan No. 3 to the United States Congress by executive order, creating the EPA as a single, independent agency from a number of smaller arms of different federal agencies. Prior to the establishment of the EPA, the federal government was not structured to comprehensively regulate environmental pollutants.”
It probably seemed like a good thing at the time but it has grown and gotten completely out of control, both in the number of employees and their power, it should be eliminated and the sooner the better.
In the ‘50s I lived in So CA in a home about 1.5 miles from the San Gabriel Mtns. There were many days in the summer months we could barely see the closest mountain from our neighborhood due to smog, it was terrible and so bad our lungs would actually hurt.
Not all things in the ‘70s that the states and the EPA did were bad, they were responsible for many needed improvements. The problem is that for the last 20 or so years they've gone to the extreme and have had the backing of the enviro wacko movement. They now need to disappear.
Thanks for you post, I see it was an EO that started it.
Tricky RINO Nixon also recognized Red China, lost the Vietnam War, gave us forced busing, food stamps, and racial quotas for schools and hiring.
......”NPR calls this “another notch in [the] belt” for Texas AG Greg Abbott, who won another fight against the EPA last week, too:
Just a week after a court victory against the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA), Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has another notch in his belt. Today, an appeals court in Washington has ruled that the EPA violated the Clean Air Actwith its Cross State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR), and now must revise the ruling.
It’s welcome news for Abbott, who just last week bragged that he likes to “sue the Obama administration” for fun. The state of Texas was joined by dozens of others, including some Texas power companies, in challenging the rule. …
Why did the court vacate the EPA’s rule?
It said that agency had “exceeded its statutory authority” in enacting the rule. “Congress did not authorize EPA to simply adopt limits on emissions as EPA deemed reasonable,” the ruling, which you can read below, states:
“Rather, Congress set up a federalism-based system of air pollution control. Under this cooperative federalism approach, both the Federal Government and the States play significant roles. The Federal Government sets air quality standards for pollutants. The States have the primary responsibility for determining how to meet those standards and regulating sources within their borders.”
“Consider this a victory for Governor Rick Perry as well. He has made it a personal mission to fight federal interference in state matters, and he’s racking up impressive victories in that battle with Washington.”
Thanks for linking that. Sounds like Terrence Henry has his Knickers in a wad about this and Greg Abbott. LOL!
Exactly! RINO vote pandering to the libtards always turns out to be truly disasterous. Nixon is gone yet all the pandering snowballed into what we have today!
Exactly. Just like unions, back in the day they were needed to protect workers from dangerous conditions, unfair pay, etc. Now they just serve to extort money from business and give it to liberals. The EPA in not that much different.
Don’t forget Dick’s “Phase 1, Phase 2” central economic planning, price and wage controls, the beginning of gas shortages, stagflation, Kent State that galvanized the leftists, and so much more...
Excellent post.
I remember going to race driver school in Ontario Cal in 1974 and my throat burning like crazy from the smog in the afternoons.
My Dad and I went to several Ontario 500’s there and what an exciting experience they were.
Seeing races like that in person is a whole different experience than seeing them on TV.
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