GHG Monitor
10/31/2014
IN EPA
The Environmental Protection Agency filed a motion late last week to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Murray Energy Corporation challenging the agency’s proposed carbon emissions regulations for existing coal-fired power plants. In the motion, the EPA argues that because the rule has not been finalized, it is not subject to judicial review. “Because the Agency publication challenged by Murray is only a proposed rule reflecting proposed legal interpretations and technical analysis, by definition it does not represent EPA’s final determination with respect to the matters addressed. EPA is soliciting public comment on every issue that Murray would have the Court prematurely review in this case, and EPA has not yet had the opportunity to respond to those comments and make its final legal and technical determinations,” the motion says. The EPA was recently granted a motion to dismiss a different challenge to the proposed rule for the same reasons noted in last week’s request.
IN CONGRESS
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) will introduce legislation next month to create a carbon price, the Senator announced this week during a speech at the New York University Institute for Policy Integrity fall conference. The details of the bill will not be released until the legislation is introduced next month, a representative from Whitehouse’s office told GHG Monitor this week, but Whitehouse highlighted potential financial benefits to his legislation, suggesting various uses for the funds collected. “My legislation will generate significant new federal revenue—perhaps as much as two trillion dollars over the first decade. Every dollar of this revenue should be returned to the American people. We can do this lots of ways: cutting personal or corporate taxes, relieving student loan debt, boosting Social Security benefits to seniors, providing transition assistance to workers in fossil-fuel industries, or even paying out direct dividends to families. The list goes on. It’s win-win-win. We can use this revenue to do big things; repair a marketplace failure; and guide the economy toward lower emissions, enhanced productivity, and a sustainable future,” Whitehouse said.
