On October 3, in accordance with the October 17 federal court order, EPA submitted a proposed schedule for studying the employment impacts of its administration and enforcement of the Clean Air Act. As previously summarized here, the federal district court previously ruled that EPA failed to conduct mandatory evaluations of the employment effects of its enforcement of the Clean Air…
On October 17, 2017, a federal court in West Virginia ruled that EPA has failed to conduct mandatory evaluations of the employment effects of its administration and enforcement of the Clean Air Act, especially as they relate to coal mining and usage. In 2014, Murray Energy sued EPA in the Northern District of West Virginia, arguing that § 321 of the Clean Air Act imposes on EPA a…
A little known federal agency in charge of pipeline safety has just issued a new regulation that represents a major change in its enforcement authority over regulated pipelines. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), an independent agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation, has announced an “Interim Final Rule” (IFR) on its website which will authorize it to…
In July 2001, localized heavy rains produced severe flooding in the southern West Virginia coalfields. See July 29, 2006 Register Herald article. Groups like the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition were quick to blame mining. Mass litigation against the logging and coal industries ensued and continued for another eight years.
In June 2016, localized heavy rains produced devastating…
The Conservation Law Foundation has sued Exxon in Massachusetts for failing to acknowledge and respond to climate-based risks posed to the environment by its petroleum terminal in Everett, Massachusetts. The Complaint claims the terminal lies below the level of a storm surge that occurred in 1978 and if FEMA were to update flood hazard maps through the area, then the terminal would likely fall…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit handed the EPA an unexpected reversal last week in a case involving its unlawful disclosure of private information to environmental groups. The Eighth Circuit reversed a district court which had concluded that the farm organizations which sued EPA did not have standing to bring the action. More important, the circuit court addressed the merits of…
The federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM) surprised no one on September 7 when it announced that it would commence rulemaking to revise its regulations governing the use of self-bonds at coal mining operations (81 Federal Register 61612). The announcement formally approves a petition filed in March by the predominantly Western environmental organization, WildEarth Guardians, to prohibit the use…
By Order of August 5, 2016, the Circuit Court of Marshall County, WV ruled that West Virginia’s surface mining rules do not require underground mine operators to take steps—or pay pipeline operators to take steps—in advance of mining to prevent damage to overlying pipelines where the miner has the common law right to subside the surface. Link to Order The Court also held, however, that…
The Sierra Club and its acolytes have openly derided those who advocate using gas as a “bridge fuel.” Now, the group seeks to slow the construction of both a new gas-fired power plant in Virginia and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline slated to provide fuel to the Plant. The Appalachian Mountain Advocates (“Appalmad”), who serve frequently as counsel to the Sierra Club, have bragged…
The Natural Gas Act (“NGA”) of 1938 grants the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) exclusive authority to regulate sales and transportation of natural gas in interstate commerce. To that end, Section 7 of the NGA empowers FERC to authorize the construction and operation of interstate transportation facilities—i.e., pipelines. FERC does so by determining whether a project serves the…
“A man always has two reasons for doing anything -- a good reason and the real reason.” J.P. Morgan
Whenever an agency proposes to change the procedures it follows to make decisions, it must offer a good reason for the change. When an agency proposes to make multiple changes in its procedures, there is almost certainly a real reason for its proposal. This is why EPA’s May 18 (81 FR31344) proposed…
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has unanimously upheld the Army Corps of Engineers’ issuance of a Clean Water Act § 404 permit to Raven Crest Contracting, LLC, a subsidiary of White Forest Resources, Inc.
On August 10, 2012, the Corps issued a § 404 “dredge and fill permit” to Raven Crest for its Boone North No. 5 Surface Mine in Boone County, West Virginia. The Ohio…
