Supreme Court declines to issue stays against two EPA rules

Earlier today, the Supreme Court declined to issue stays against the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) methane and mercury and air toxic standards (MATS) rules.

Director of CEI’s Center for Energy and Environment Daren Bakst said:

“It’s disappointing that the Supreme Court didn’t issue stays of the EPA’s methane and mercury and air toxic standards (MATS) rules. The rules remain in effect for now as they are challenged in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.

“We have seen this movie before. The EPA issues a rule that has a good chance of getting shot down, but the agency still gets its way because regulated parties have to comply in the meantime. By the time the rule does get shot down, the damage has often been done. We saw this with the Obama administration’s MATS rule.

“Regarding this new MATS rule, the EPA couldn’t identify a single dollar’s worth of benefits from regulating mercury and air toxics for its rule that is supposed to be addressing mercury and air toxics. If that sounds ridiculous, that’s because it is. But doing end-runs around the law is too often what the EPA does.”