Federal court blocks EPA rule

“Petitioners have satisfied the standards required for a stay pending court review” of the EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, the court ruled. Attorney General Greg Abbott, R-Texas, had argued that EPA violated the law by “by denying Texas the ability to participate in the rule-making process.” The attorney general’s office also criticized the EPA for “jeopardizing the reliability of Texas’ electrical grid, threatening hard-working Texans’ jobs, and burdening Texas families with higher electricity prices.”

The EPA said in a statement that it “firmly believes that when the court does weigh the merits of the rule it will ultimately be upheld.” Vickie Patton, general counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund, told Reuters that “the pollution reductions at stake are some of the single most important clean air protections for children, families and communities across the eastern half of the United States.”

House Energy and Commerce Committee legislators echoed Abbott’s critique of the rule. “When it comes to something as simple as keeping the lights on and keeping electricity rates affordable, we shouldnt need a federal court to step in and tell a government agency to stop threatening our power supplies and jobs,” said Rep. Frank Upton, R-Mich., today. “This Court ruling is just the latest signal that EPA has gone too far.”

Upton has opposed other EPA rules, such as the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, for the same reason. EPA, or staffers within EPA, shared concerns that some new regulations — which effect electricity-producing coal plants –would harm the reliability of the U.S. electric grid, but those concerns were removed from a draft report before it was released to the public.

The court order called for another hearing on the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule in April, 2012.