Obama’s EPA Gets Supreme Court Hearing on Coal Pollution

[Purveyor]

Source: Bloomberg

By Greg Stohr - Jun 24, 2013
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider reviving an Environmental Protection Agency rule that would curb emissions from coal-fired power plants, in a clash over the Obama administration’s biggest air-quality effort.

A federal appeals court threw out the cross-state air pollution rule last year, saying the EPA had gone beyond its powers under federal law. That decision was a victory for coal companies and utilities, which called the measure one of the costliest ever issued under the Clean Air Act.

The administration is seeking to reinstate a rule it says would prevent up to 34,000 premature deaths and produce as much as $280 billion a year in economic benefits. The rule, which has never taken effect, caps emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in 28 states whose pollution blows into neighboring jurisdictions. All are in the eastern two-thirds of the country.

“The court of appeals’ decision will seriously disrupt the EPA’s implementation” of the Clean Air Act, “and it threatens serious harm to the public health,” U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli argued in seeking high-court review.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-24/obama-s-epa-gets-supreme-court-hearing-on-coal-pollution.html

[SunSeeker]

1. Let's hope for a miracle from this Court.

I figure they would not have taken up the case if they had agreed with the appeals court ruling.

[silvershadow]

2. That's what it will take, I'd bet. They probably will say it infringes on their right to make a

profit.