The EPA has been dealt yet another defeat in court. That it comes from a case involving Texas makes it even better.
The law is/was as follows: There are great restrictions on major sources of pollution, per law. But there are “minor sources” noted in the law as well, for which there are only the most minimal standards. Essentially this sort of pollution is left up to the states, except that they must comply with the minimal, sketchy requirements set by federal law.
In addition, the EPA has eighteen months to approve, or disapprove, a state’s updated plan as far as handling minor sources of pollution. States update their plans from time to time.
In the case just decided, the EPA missed that eighteen month deadline to approve or disapprove by three months.
Did I say three months? I meant three years. It decided to disapprove a plan Texas submitted four and half years ago.
Further, the EPA created, out of whole cloth, its own “regulations” for minor source pollution, deciding that it now housed within it a special Environmental Congress which may pass laws outside of the normal Constitutional framework, as long as they deal with pollution and are certified For the Children (TM).
Ace has more, including quotes from the ruling, at the link. Reading past the legalese, it’s quite a smackdown.
This is the third defeat that the out-of-control EPA has suffered in a week. On March 21, the Supreme Court ruled that the EPA could not act as judge and jury in a case involving landowners and a nonexistent “wetland” on their property. On Monday, US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled that the EPA couldn’t stop a West Virginia mine. And now this ruling, which explicitly limits the EPA to the powers granted it by Congress. That part of today’s ruling may be the most profound and beneficial in the long run.
I thought that, among the powers granted the EPA by congress, was the ability to choose their own regulations, though I guess not in this case.
Reading the opinion, I noted a lovely word, repeated several times: “expeditiously.”
I suspect that the Court, doubting [gosh, I wonder why] the integrity of the EPA, was concerned that there would be more foot dragging. This is a shot across the bows of the bureaucrats, announcing sanctions waiting for them if they try any more stalling tactics.
In fact, the Court in the final footnote emphasizes that it cannot see any conceivable reason for the EPA disapproving the permits. This is basically a writ of mandamus.
no problem these mining co.s won’t be able to sell coal in the usa
Well, add that to all the pro-gun rulings lately, and the forthcoming smackdown of ObamaCare, and things are looking really bad for the Leftists.
It’s good to finally see the courts starting to limit the powers these out of control, tyrannical, self appointed gods are attempting to wield.
The left is always on offense and eventually they score. Conservatives always play defense and you can’t score any goals without offense.
How about we disestablish the EPA and all associated laws?
The most profound way for the right to go on offense is to start a legal campaign that, under the US constitution, Congress cannot delegate its legislative powers to executive agencies. Then all those “regulations” that these agencies have come up with (that our 19th century ancestors would have recognized as plain old “laws”) would have to go through Congress again like any other law to stay in effect — or else become null and void like any other unconstitutional government act.
Just scratching the surface of what this would mean: No US government regulation could be enforced unless it was passed through the House and Senate like any other law — which among other things means it could be filibustered in the Senate …
Yep.
While I am glad that the EPA got a bloody nose again, there’s a point that seems to have been lost in the mix here. The EPA actually has the strategy in place to intentionally lose some cases in court so that they can pull more tax dollars for their budgetary use. The most common instance of this is when a leftist organization needs an instant cash transfusion. The EPA will file some bogus allegation, take the organization to court, lose the case, and hand over tax payer money to the organization as a result of losing the case.
There wasn’t any foot-dragging, it was a lack of staffing. Pity the poor EPA staffers… they had their “day job” of killing off the remaining industry PLUS another full time job in creating “reasons” to kill the Keystone Pipeline that would bring jobs and reduce the impact of ME saber rattling. That was tough, since the Keystone Pipeline would run alongside other existing pipelines. Don’t worry, though, the EPA will soon be gone. Only rich countries can devote vast financial resources to “saving the planet” and we’ll soon be too poor to participate, thanks to the efforts of all the “save the planet” folks.