Coal Industry in Limbo Over Regulating Greenhouse Gases

Scores of new coal-burning power plants were set to begin construction soon, but the plans are now on hold as the industry awaits decisions by the Obama administration about the regulation of greenhouse gases.

Coal industry lawyers are nervous after the Environmental Protection Agency appeals panel recently rejected a federal permit for a Utah Plant, which one lawyer described as “a punt to the Obama adminstration”. The panel said that the EPA’s Denver office had failed to adequately support its decision to create the plant without requiring controls on carbon dioxide.

From MSNBC:

The matter was sent back to that office, which must better explain why it failed to order limits on carbon dioxide. This is “an issue of national scope that has implications far beyond this individual permitting process,” the panel said.

EPA spokesman Jonathan Shrader said the agency was reviewing the ruling by the appeals panel, which traditionally gives great deference to agency decisions.

Environmentalists and lawyers representing industry groups said the ruling puts in question permits — some being considered, others approved but under appeal — of perhaps as many as 100 coal plants.

“It’s going to stop everything while EPA mulls over what to do next” about how the federal Clean Air Act is to be used to control carbon dioxide, said David Bookbinder, a Sierra Club lawyer. “And that will be decided by the next administration.”

Though we don’t yet know exactly how Obama is going to tackle the regulation of greenhouse gases, it’s safe to assume that his approach will be different from that of George W. Bush, who opposed using the Clean Air Act to do so. The Supreme Court has told the EPA that it must decide whether carbon dioxide endangers public health and welfare, and if it does it must be regulated. Obviously, it does, but under Bush, the EPA wouldn’t admit it.

The people Obama chooses for top spots in the EPA will make all the difference in cases like this – and we’re pretty confident that for once they’ll be capable of doing the job.

Link [MSNBC]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

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