A federal judge will not allow the Obama administration to dispense with a Bush-era regulation that eased environmental restrictions on mountaintop mining operations.
Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. declined to grant the Interior Department’s request to reject the rule and send it back to the agency.
Opponents of climate change regulation are attempting to dismantle the regulatory framework the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has crafted thus far under the Obama administration. The Senate unsuccessfully attempted to overturn a scientific determination in which the agency found that greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare. However, EPA still faces court challenges by industry groups on regulations limiting emissions from both vehicles and industrial sources.