Energy and Environment Monitor

EPA Submits Proposed Jobs Study Schedule in Response to Order in Murray Energy Clean Air Act Case in WV

November 3, 2016

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…

Federal Judge Rules That EPA has Failed to Conduct Required Studies of Effects of its Clean Air Act Enforcement and Implementation on Employment

October 20, 2016

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…

Little Known Agency Assumes New Enforcement Powers

October 19, 2016

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…

Mining Doesn’t Cause Flooding? A Headline You’ll Never See in the Charleston Gazette

October 6, 2016

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…

ExxonMobil Sued by Climate Activists for Failure to Account for Climate Risks to Oil Storage Facility in Massachusetts

October 4, 2016

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…

Court Slaps Down EPA Over Improper Disclosure of Private Information

September 21, 2016

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…

OSM SIGNALS END TO SELF-BONDING

September 14, 2016

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…

West Virginia County Court Rules That Mine Operator Is Not Required To Prevent Subsidence Damage To Commercial Gas Lines Where Operator Has The Right To Subside But Has Duty To Compensate For Damages

September 7, 2016

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…

Sierra Club Expands War on Gas in Challenge to Air Permit for Gas Plant: Claims Emissions from Gas Supply Pipeline and Associated Compression Should be Included in Analyses

August 23, 2016

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…

Court Allows Pipeline Opponents to Challenge Clean Water Act Permits Directly in Circuit Courts of Appeal

August 11, 2016

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…

EPA Proposes Amendments to NPDES Procedural Rules

July 28, 2016

“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…

Fourth Circuit Rejects Sierra Club’s Health Claims in Mining Permit Appeal

July 14, 2016

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…