WHEELING, W.Va. — 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.”
Section 321(a) requires the EPA to “conduct continuing evaluations of potential loss or shifts of employment which may result from the administration or enforcement of the provisions of (the Clean Air Act) and applicable implementation plans, including where appropriate, investigating threatened plant closures or reductions in employment allegedly results from such administration or enforcement.”
Bailey wrote in his order that given the act’s importance, “it would be an abuse of discretion for the EPA to refuse to conduct a Section 321(a) evaluation of the effects of its regulations on the coal industry.”
Murray Energy Chairman, President and CEO Robert Murray said the court’s ruling validates the company’s fight against the EPA and its regulations over the past several years.
“This is a great day for coal miners in the United States, and for all citizens who rely on low-cost electricity in America,” Murray said. “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.”
Murray, in a statement, also said “at least 411 coal-fired power generating units in America have been closed or identified for closure by the Obama EPA, which is a loss of 101,000 megawatts of lowest cost electric power available across the country.
Further, tens of thousands of coal miners have been put out of work, and their families are suffering. We are fighting to protect these workers, who only want to work in honor and dignity. We are also seeking to protect low cost electricity for all Americans, including those on fixed incomes and for American manufacturers of products which must compete in the global marketplace.”
Company spokesman Gary Broadbent said the Clean Air lawsuit is one of several actions the company has taken against the EPA.
“We have been successful in obtaining a nationwide stay of the so-called Clean Power Plan, and we are vigorously pursuing all six of our lawsuits against the Obama EPA,” he said. “The illegal actions of the Obama EPA are a very human issue to the management and ownership of Murray Energy. Mr. Murray knows the names of the coal miners whose lives and livelihoods are being destroyed by these illegal regulations, and this is a substantial step toward protecting these coal miners and their families, and low-cost electricity for all Americans.”
EPA officials said they are reviewing the ruling.
