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Murray Energy Sues Obama’s EPA

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World Coal,


Murray Energy is suing the Obama Administration’s US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to stop the EPA’s and the Corps’ intention to completely rewrite the Clean Water Act by expanding the definition of ‘Waters of the United States’.

The first lawsuit has been filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia and the second lawsuit is to be filled in the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

"The Obama EPA's final 'Waters of the United States' rule not only reflects an unprecedented expansion in federal regulatory authority, but results in one of the largest land grabs by the Federal Government in this Nation's history," said Gary M. Broadbent, Assistant General Counsel and Media Director for Murray Energy.

In summarising the rule, Broadbent noted: "The Obama EPA is seeking to expand jurisdiction over dry ditches, puddles, ponds and erosional features, dictating to Americans how they can and cannot use their private property." He continued: "Under the Obama EPA's rule, any area that is wet, or has the potential to be wet, would be subject to the Clean Water Act. Congress clearly did not intend such a radical and illogical outcome."

Congress adopted the Clean Water Act in 1972 and specifically limited the federal government's authority to ‘navigable waters’. Over the years, the EPA expanded its rules and authority under the Clean Water Act to include not only navigable waters, but dry lands and activities potentially affecting those areas.

Broadbent concluded: "If the Clean Water Act is to be rewritten, it should be done so by Congress, after input from the Citizens of the US and serious deliberation by Congress, not by EPA through a series of unilateral administrative changes that effectively rewrites the Clean Water Act.”

Edited from Press Release by Harleigh Hobbs

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/coal/02072015/murray-energy-sues-obama-epa-2503/

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