A federal court ruled today that the Trump EPA must enforce a climate change rule created by the Obama administration:
CNN – The EPA must enforce Obama era pollution limits for the oil and gas industry, a federal court said Monday.
Nine of the 11 judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued the latest ruling after a ruling by the court in July that the EPA unlawfully tried to delay implementing the Obama-era methane pollution rule.
The rule sets limits for greenhouse emissions for the energy industry, and requires companies to identify and fix leaks. In June, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt sought a two-year pause on the new methane rule so the agency could “look broadly” at regulations and review their impact.
The D.C. federal court’s ruling was a victory for environmentalists and suggests rolling back environmental regulations wholesale will be difficult for the Trump administration.
According to Free Beacon:
The judges in the July 3 ruling said that the EPA had the right to reverse the regulations by going through the rule-making process, but not to simply press pause, the New York Times reported.
The Obama-era rule was part of the administration’s second-term climate change agenda, and was enacted to restrict methane emissions from new oil and gas wells.
EPA administrator Scott Pruitt is less convinced of the regulation’s positive impacts. Pruitt announced in April that he would extend the deadline for companies to comply with the rule. Meanwhile, the agency would reevaluate the regulations and review their impact.
In light of Monday’s ruling, the EPA is expected to continue working through the regulatory process to delay the rule’s implementation.
This ruling is ridiculous.
How is it that the new administration can’t hit pause on a potentially damaging regulation from a previous administration for the purpose of reevaluation? We’re not talking about a law enacted by Congress and signed by the president, but a rule created by an unelected bureaucracy in the executive branch!
Where in the Constitution does it say that a regulation created by an unelected bureaucracy in the executive branch must be upheld as though it were law? Where?