Supreme Court halts EPA air rule

Citing the EPA’s failure to consider the cost of forcing utilities to comply with its clean air rule, the Supreme Court of Monday struck down one of the Obama administration’s most controversial attempts to expand the agency’s regulatory power.

The court’s 5-4 ruling in Michigan v. EPA found the agency “strayed well beyond the bounds of reasonable interpretation in concluding that cost is not a factor relevant to the appropriateness of regulating power plants,” Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in the majority opinion.

“… EPA must consider cost — including cost of compliance — before deciding whether regulation is appropriate and necessary.”

In analyzing new restrictions on an array of airborne pollutants emitted by power plants, the EPA estimated the rule would cost energy producers almost $10 billion, but asserted that the monetary cost of the changes should not weigh in its decision to set them in motion.

The decision resets the rule — whose changes had already been assimilated into the production processes of some plants — by returning the matter to a lower court, “for the EPA to decide how to account for costs,” according to FOX News.

Obama spokesman Josh Earnest said the president was “disappointed” with the court’s ruling.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed in the outcome… There is no reason this court ruling should have any impact on the ability of the administration to develop and implement the Clean Power Plan,” Earnest said.

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