From Bloomberg…….
Obama Curbs on Coal Pollution Rejected by U.S. Court
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington in a 2-1 ruling today struck down the EPA’s cross-state air pollution rule, saying the agency overstepped its legal authority and issued standards that were too strict. The court sided with power companies and mining groups challenging to the measure, which caps emissions in more than two dozen states. The rule had been put on hold by the court in December while it considered the regulation’s legality.
“It is not our job to set environmental policy,” Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the 60-page opinion. “Our limited but important role is to independently ensure that the agency stays within the boundaries Congress has set. EPA did not do so here.”
The court’s decision, which sparked a rally in coal stocks, could leave the EPA with years of work to replace a regulation the agency said would have “dramatic” health benefits for 240 million people, Whitney Stanco, senior energy policy analyst at Guggenheim Securities LLC, said.
The court ordered the agency to continue to enforce a 2005 measure known as the Clean Air Interstate Rule until a viable replacement to the cross-state regulation can be issued.
American Electric Power Company Inc., the largest U.S. coal consumer, said the air quality goals that the cross-state ruled targeted would be achieved by the 2005 rule that remains in place.
“Air emissions from AEP’s coal-fueled power plants are nearly 80 percent less than they were just a decade ago,” Pat Hemlepp, a spokesman for Columbus, Ohio-based American Electric said in an e-mail. “We are willing to move forward to make additional emission reductions, but we believe it can be done in a more reasonable way.”
The EPA rules, which applied to Texas and 27 eastern states, would have imposed caps on sulfur dioxide, which can lead to acid rain and soot harmful to humans and ecosystems, and nitrogen oxide, a component of ground-level ozone and a main ingredient of smog.
I’m flabbergasted that some judges could understand the unreasonable nature of the rules put forward by the EPA. Well done!
Even the 2005 rule came at a dramatic cost to end users. My power bill went up over 25% because of it.
True, but at least the industry has a chance to exist, now.
True!
Can you imagine how cheap our electricity could be without some of these asinine rules and laws we have today?
Our cost is about .06 cents kWh.
Wind mill people hate me, when I share that information with them.
Lol, I bet they would. I’m suppose to pay 7.33 cents per kWh, but with all of the bs charges added, mostly because of this insipidly stupid hatred for cheap energy my real rate is about 11.6 cents per kWh.
suyts says:
August 21, 2012 at 5:55 pm
Lol, I bet they would. I’m suppose to pay 7.33 cents per kWh, but with all of the bs charges added, mostly because of this insipidly stupid hatred for cheap energy my real rate is about 11.6 cents per kWh.
xxxxxxxxxxxx
ACK!!
James:
Yes I do know about those charges. The power company was one of my customers and of course I did use and pat for power even in Las Vegas for 40+ years before moving to E Tenn.
At least in E Tn I was with a coop while I had the farm and my last apartment.
I will not know the damages until I get my first bill from the local utility district.
Here the power company also does phone, cable, water and internet. The apartments being as old as they are do not have separate water meters and they have the old analog electric meters. Of course I am only one block from their office. I also have to sign up for gas from a different provider but I only need gas for heat this winter.
Interesting point, this apartment still has radiators in every room. Non working of course, but I do have a real wood burning fire place.
“Here the power company also does phone, cable, water and internet.”
The one stop shopping can be a huge savings… or a miserable gouging. I could get internet here really cheap….. if I also paid for a home phone, of which I have no need.
Reblogged this on Climate Ponderings and commented:
Sanity prevails!
“I’m flabbergasted that some judges could understand the unreasonable nature of the rules put forward by the EPA. Well done!”
It’s the job of the plaintiff’s attorney to help them understand. Lawyers like statisticians are universally derided across the internet but sometimes you will find that they work FOR you…