Overnight Energy & Environment

Overnight Energy: Court orders EPA to enforce chemical safety rule | Dem says Zinke would ‘sell’ his grandkids for the oil industry | EPA reportedly poised to unveil climate rule replacement

by Timothy Cama 08/17/18 03:56 PM ET

COURT TOSSES EPA’S DELAY OF OBAMA CHEMICAL PLANT RULE: A federal court Friday threw out the Trump administration’s attempt to delay a chemical plant safety regulation written by the Obama administration.

In a major blow to the Trump administration, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the Clean Air Act forbids the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from delaying the regulation’s enforcement, as it tried to do in June 2017.

“Because EPA has not engaged in reasoned decisionmaking, its promulgation of the delay rule is arbitrary and capricious,” the court wrote in its Friday opinion.

The judges said the EPA’s action “makes a mockery of the statute” and that “there is no textual basis for EPA’s current interpretation” of the law.

{mosads}

An EPA spokesman declined to comment on the ruling beyond saying that the agency is “reviewing” it.

New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood (D), one of the leading litigants opposing the Trump delay, cheered the court’s decision.

“Again and again, the Trump EPA has tried to push through policies that jeopardize our health and fly in the face of the law — and again and again, we’ve taken them to court and won,” Underwood said in a statement.

“This decision is a major victory for New Yorkers’ — and Americans’ — health and safety, ensuring that the EPA cannot put special interests first and block common sense protections against toxic chemical accidents.”

Read more on Friday’s ruling.

Court losses stacking up for EPA: Friday’s ruling is just the latest in a string of court losses for former EPA head Scott Pruitt’s deregulatory agenda.

On Thursday, a federal judge ruled against the Trump administration’s attempts to rollback another Obama-era rule. The District Court for the District of South Carolina ruled that the EPA had not followed the rulemaking procedures when it attempted to suspend the implementation of the Clean Water Rule also known as the Waters of the United States.

“As administrations change, so do regulatory priorities. But the requirements of the APA [Administrative Procedure Act] remain the same. The court finds that the government failed to comply with these requirements in implementing the Suspension Rule,” the court wrote.

The decision put a nationwide injunction on the administration’s suspension reinstating the rule in 26 states.

And last week, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt broke the law when he denied a petition to ban chlorpyrifos, a common pesticide linked to developmental and neurological disorders. That court ordered the EPA to ban the chemical within 60 days.

Why it matters: The Trump EPA has hit numerous roadblocks in its deregulatory agenda, including these, court rulings on methane and others. The federal judiciary could continue to be an impediment to the Trump agenda.

Or will it?: On the other hand, most of the court decisions against the EPA have been on administrative matters, including the chemical plant rule decision.

It will be a little while before the courts start weighing in on the substance of the EPA’s rollbacks. For example, the EPA only proposed in May to repeal key parts of the chemical plant rule. That rollback has to be finalized before opponents can sue, and only then would the courts be able to judge it.

Happy end of the week! Welcome to Overnight Energy, The Hill’s roundup of the latest energy and environment news.

Please send tips and comments to Timothy Cama, tcama@digital-stage.thehill.com, and Miranda Green, mgreen@digital-stage.thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @Timothy_Cama, @mirandacgreen, @thehill.

DEM GOVERNOR: ZINKE WOULD ‘SELL GRANDCHILDREN FOR THE OIL INDUSTRY’: Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) slammed Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Thursday, saying he is in the pocket of the oil and gas industry and would “sell his grandchildren for the oil industry.”

Speaking at an event, Inslee took issue with Zinke’s recent tour of California where the secretary visited neighborhoods struck by recent wildfires and told reporters “this is not a debate about climate change.”

Inslee, whose state has faced similar wildfire threats, said Zinke “would flunk any science test that these kids take,” the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.

“With climate change you have a hotter, drier climate, Mr. Zinke. You have fires. What is there about this that you cannot comprehend … This man works for us. We do not pay him to give us false information. We get enough of that from the President,” Inslee said.

He added: “That man (Zinke) would sell his grandchildren for the oil industry… We have just seen the beginning of the firestorm.”

An Interior spokesperson called the remarks unprofessional and “sad.”

“Bringing up the Secretary’s granddaughters in a half-baked interview in order to get a couple headlines is outrageously pathetic and sad,” said Interior spokeswoman Heather Swift.