EPA to Supreme Court: Take a hike!

EPA gives permit to new Utah coal plant; Waxman cries foul 10

Given the opportunity last month to adhere to the Supreme Court's findings in the case of Massachusetts vs. EPA, the EPA chose instead to completely ignore the ruling and proceed as if the case had never been heard. It issued a permit to Deseret Power to construct a 110-megawatt coal-fired power unit at an existing power plant in Uintah County, Utah.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, today sent a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson urging him to reverse his decision and asking him to answer some important questions. The letter is available at this link. Here are highlights:

On August 30, 2007 , EPA issued a permit to Deseret Power for the construction of a 110-megawatt coal-fired power unit at the Bonanza Power Plant in Uintah County, Utah. The Deseret Bonaiua permit decision presented EPA with its first opportunity since the Supreme Court ruling to address the global warming harm from a major new stationary source of greenhouse gases. While relatively small, this unit has the potential to emit up to 90 million tons of CO2 over an estimated 50-year lifetime. As the permitting authority for this plant, EPA had to decide whether to issue the permit and whether to require carbon dioxide pollution controls or other mitigating measures under the permit ...

... EPA ruled in the permit decision that CO2 is not "subject to regulation" under the [Clean Air] Act and thus that EPA cannot require the plant to apply the best available control technology to reduce greenhouse gases. According to EPA, CO2 cannot be considered "subject to regulation" because CO2 is not yet regulated by "a statutory or regulatory provision that requires actual control of emissions." In essence, the EPA argument is that because EPA has not regulated CO2 emissions in the past, the agency cannot regulate CO2 emissions now.

This is a bootstrap argument that conflicts with the plain language of the statute and blatantly misconstrues the Supreme Court's recent holding. ...

... I request your cooperation in the Committee's investigation into the process that led to the Deseret Power decision. First, I ask that you provide the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform copies of all documents relating to communications between EPA and any other federal agency or the White House that relate to (1) the Deseret Power application or (2) the consideration of greenhouse gas emissions when making permitting decisions for new coal or gas-fired power plants.

The tentative deadline for that information and the answers to other questions in the letter is October 3.

Brian Beutler is a contributing writer for Grist as well as Washington correspondent for The Media Consortium. In his spare time he writes an eponymous blog.

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  1. Earth Shaman Posted 7:11 am
    19 Sep 2007

    Coal,Coal,CoalThe plain and simple facts of the matter is that most folks simply do not see the Mercury issue from the coal burning as the main issue.I made another reply today to another Grist bllog about carbon sequestration that speaks to that issue somewhat,so I shall not go over that again.But with that information as a precursor of the fallacy of carbon causing our global warming and the mis-information thaqt is supported by the staff here,and Im not sure if its conscious intent,or just that the mission folks to help the planet have been emotionally fed so much improper planet science in the first place that they are not eager to slay their guru,I dont know,you tell me.But anyway,when even folks like the National Defence Resource Council support the facts that mercury comes from burning coal and has caused egregious damage to our fish,and warnings against anyone intending to have children to not ingest them.(Did anyione see the special where the Greeenland whalers who consume alot of whale meat found their children to be so low in intellect after mother ingested the meat before childbirth that a Harvard scientist(Originally from there) started a program to curtail the mothers from ingesting the whales to save their children(AND ITS WORKING) Now back to my statement about actual Earth science and "ACTUAL" history.Coal was not naturally produced on this planet,let me repeat that for you,COAL WAS NOT NATURALLY PRODUCED ON THIS PLANET,okay got that statement??About 400 years ago,there was modern society on this planet and there was an enormous war and there was mercury used to kill people,(Couple it with an explosive force and the gas kills everyone) The damage was so great,other forces from another planet on our"FLOWER" that have intergalactic trvel ability and also process over the health of this planet,and universe processes(ITS NOT A BIG BANG ACCIDENT BY THE WAY) Had no choice but to "COOK" the large populous effected areas down to a carbon with a process similar to a microwave.THERE ARE HUMAN MADE PHYSICAL OBJECTS FOUND IN THE COAL ON A REGULAR BASIS,Okay,got that?? The Coal should not be burned!! GOT why??The ocean is full of mercury from off planet operatives during WW@ assisting the German Government getting ready to use the mercury explosions on this planet.A submarine was just found in late 2006 in Norways waters that is full of mercury in flasks that was exploded to the sea floor by a British submarine. The british broke the code between the Germans and the Japanese that was their ordering and instructions to deliver that load to Japan to be used in mercury explosions.When they were caught,most of the off planet folks had to skeedaddle off this planet or go underground,but they had about 50 shipments of mercury that were dropped to the bottom of the ocean so as to not get caught with it.The amounts of mercury in the oceans fish is to the concentration levels now that we are at GRAVE risk.Did you ever wonder why the whales beach themselves?? Its the mercury,even the krill that they eat has been found to be the culprit in depletions of large amounts of other sea creatures.Mercury affects our intellect,it effects our genetics.There have been many clean up missions for those ships as they are found,but just as the "Authorities" over the Norway incident have decided,THEY ARE JUST COVERING THEM WITH SAND AND ROCKS. All of you geology majors might take a sec and tell me what happens when that floor moves,or a vent opens there!! We have another problem when the fish are finally all killed off and it has everything to do with the salinity of the ocean.THE FISH WERE PUT INTO THE OCEAN WHEN THIS ECO_SYSTEM WAS BUILT TO TAKE OXYGEN OUT OF THE WATER. !!! You will have to query me with genuine interest to get the full discussion of that statement.So I will end by saying once again that the CO2 does not cause the planets warming and I have shared that here before.Genuinely want the science??

    Earth Shaman

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  2. wiscidea Posted 7:19 am
    19 Sep 2007

    What?!And Dave Roberts has threatened to block MY ability to post comments.
    Whatever, Dave.

    Another victim of Jean-Paul Marat's ghost and his virtual guillotine?

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  3. Earth Shaman Posted 7:22 am
    19 Sep 2007

    OOpsThe coal was produced here 4000 years ago,sorry for the error,my only excuse is that I need to replace my bi-focals that I have lost.Thanks for your patience and understanding if I make a few typing errors.

    Earth Shaman

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  4. wiscidea Posted 7:28 am
    19 Sep 2007

    4000 vs. 400I was wondering about that. Sort of undermined your credibility by presenting inconsistent numbers. Good that you fixed it.

    Another victim of Jean-Paul Marat's ghost and his virtual guillotine?

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  5. wiscidea Posted 7:35 am
    19 Sep 2007

    Enforcement PowerBrian wrote:
    "Rep. Henry Waxman ... sent a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson urging him to reverse his decision and asking him to answer some important questions."
    Uh... the Supreme Court reached a ruling. Can't Waxman ODRER the EPA Administrator to comply? Can't someone charge him with contempt of court? Fire him? Use a taser on him?
    He's breaking the law! Funny how Republicans are not interested in law and order when THEY are the ones trampling all over the U.S. Constitution. When are the Democrats going to start using their power?

    Another victim of Jean-Paul Marat's ghost and his virtual guillotine?

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  6. mickrussom Posted 4:33 pm
    19 Sep 2007

    Mercury is MurdercuryWe should band together and sue all CF bulb makers for putting this toxic poison into our trash, into our waters and into our bodies. I think it is justifiable to cur the legs off of CEOs of companies that sell ROHS  banned materials, Cadmium, Lead, mercury, etc. This stuff is wildly toxic and is a leading contributor to many disorders in the US today. These scum companies sell the CF bulbs like they are "clean" and "wonderful," but there are LED bulb alternatives. Murdercury is also in some LCD panels and in some batteries. Corporate American and murderous-China, beware, we will revolt when we find out that you were poisoning us all along and new it. They poison our vaccines with Thiomersal. Look, autism was nearly non existent 50 years ago, and now its 1 in 160 kids! Its a pandemic, and environmental issues are huge. Sue these son of a bitch companies for this crap.

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  7. Sam Wells Posted 5:59 am
    20 Sep 2007

    EPA was correctI hate to say this, but the Supreme Court in essence said that the EPA could regulate CO2 and other greenhouse gases, despite the EPA's [rather weak] arguments.  Thus it would be up to the EPA Administrator to issue a new regulation that would cover new sources, mobile sources, and any other source the Administrator determined.  
    Unfortunately, there is no such rule.
    If the Administrator had refused to approve the coal plant in question, he could have been sued for being arbitrary and capricious.  By himself, the EPA Administrator cannot invent a new National Ambient Air Quality Standard or any other type of contaminant without having the benefit of a regulation, which typically takes two years from start to finish.  Any regulation must be drafted and finalized in the Federal Register.  The regulations are reviewed by many groups, most notably the Office of Management and the Budget (OMB, where many good rules go to die).  
    So no matter what the Supreme Court says, the EPA Administrator cannot act without the benefit of having an official regulation.  Of course, failure to enact a regulation due to a court decision is grounds to sue the EPA once again!  
    The EPA is currently being sued because it failed to implement emission standards for large ship engines, which were due by last spring.  Ever since the Republican Revolution of the mid-90's, these kinds of lawsuits have proliferated to an amazing degree.  

    Onward through the fog

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  8. Delay And Deny's avatar

    Delay And Deny Posted 12:10 pm
    20 Sep 2007

    Ask why...

    Ask why Waxman blocked right of way to public transit through his home district of Beverley Hills.

    John Bailo


    Sutext:

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  9. atelic Posted 1:28 pm
    20 Sep 2007

    question to Earth ShamanUm, so if we don't do anything, these "other forces" from our Flower will step in and indiscriminately kill most of the population?  And, I assume, any wildlife that just happens to get in their way?
    And they'll do this because they're so much wiser than us, that it's okay for them to commit genocide?  
    Of course, if they're so smart, why don't they figure out a way to teach us, or "lead by example," or help the disenfranchised wrest power from the corrupt??  "Dropping the bomb" is easier than diplomacy and scholarship even for these other forces, huh?
    Other than that, hopefully Waxman and others can at least tie this new coal power plant up until the next elections, when we might be able to get some more intelligent people in office.

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  10. Earth Shaman Posted 4:10 pm
    21 Sep 2007

    Reply to AtelicWhen the population on this planet was anniliated with mercury explosions,there was so much eco-logical damage ,that the system men had NO CHOICE ,but to cookdown and cover and re-grow the populous areas.That did not include destroying all animal fields on the planet.It took 50 years to cook the cities down and cost alot of money.This planet was"rested" for 1000 years before other systems were allowed to drop fields of people here.Earth service personell do not commit genocide,but planets have been"Shut down" with no heating by shutting the nodes off before when "UNiverse Court" determined that a population of a planet had commited such an egregious act against another planet and its people that they serve a sanction of shutdown to a certain percentage.Planet 3 in system 29 has served sanction from the process of assisting the German government during WW2,and will serve further sanction for their dropping 50 ships/submarines to the ocean floor when they got caught assisting the Germans and Japanese and teaching them to use the mercury explosions.Check the German U boat story just found in late 06 in Norways waters and search also for the story of the code broken by the British and the reason the sub was dropped by torpedoes with its 55 tons of mercury onboard and you will possibly begin to understand why sanction sometimes is the only deterrent.But ,I will re-assert for you again,Earth Service does not commit genocide,they repair planets and galaxy and universe functions and apply pressure to those who do. The off planet field that has put those 50 ships at the bottom of our oceand has commited genocide.Plain and simple.

    Earth Shaman

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