Judge: EPA overstepped its authority in pulling Corps of Engineers permits for coal mines in Appalachia

One small strike against Obama

Darlene Click
Protein Wisdom
10/7/2011

I blame Bush.

U.S. District Judge Reggie Barnett Walton, a Bush 43 appointee to the D.C. bench, handed the Obama administration its hat today by ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency overstepped its authority in pulling Corps of Engineers permits for coal mines in Appalachia, including West Virginia. The National Mining Association had sued the EPA. The judge said: “Congress established a permitting scheme in which the Corps is to be the principal player, and the EPA is to play a lesser, clearly defined supporting role.”Ry Rivard of the Charleston Daily Mail has a report.

Republican Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito said: “Today’s court ruling reaffirms what we’ve known all along in Appalachia, that the EPA has been overstepping its boundaries in the permit approval process in order to advance an anti-coal agenda. The EPA has tried everything, from abusing their regulatory authority to issuing ‘guidance’ reports in order to overstep the bounds of its traditional role in the permitting process. It’s about time the Courts ruled ‘enough is enough’ by re-establishing the Army Corps of Engineers’ role as the primary permitting authority. This is a significant step in our efforts to rein in the EPA which remains intent on rewarding a core constituency that doesn’t want any coal mining, no matter the cost to West Virginia or our nation. I will continue to monitor this important ruling and what it means for West Virginia.”

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