A coalition of 13 states is resisting an attempt by environmentalists to implement a rejected Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposal that would cost the American mining industry millions every year.
The states intervened in the environmentalists’ lawsuit Friday, defending a December 2017 EPA decision to reject an amendment to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), Montana’s Billings Gazette reported.
The amendment would preempt regulations already in place in each state, burdening local hard rock mining industries and the individual states with costly, redundant federal regulations, the states argued in court documents.
“The EPA rightly deferred to the states to implement strong environmental protections for hard rock mining — just as Montana has done,” Montana Attorney General Tim Fox, a Republican, said in a Monday statement. “Montana has strong environmental protections regulating hard rock mining operations in the state and further regulation is unnecessary. The plaintiffs’ position is counterproductive and ignores the lawful role of the states in implementing environmental regulations.”
The amendment, proposed by the EPA under former President Barack Obama, would have cost American businesses and the mining industry $171 million annually, the EPA found.
Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming joined together to resist environmentalists’ attempts to resurrect the rule.
Environmental groups including Earthjustice, Earthworks and the Sierra Club argue that more regulations are needed to hold mining companies responsible for cleaning up mine sites after companies go out of businesses.
After companies declare bankruptcy, taxpayers must fund the clean-up of the abandoned mine, CNBC reported.
Read more at Daily Caller
At last some states are fighting back against the demands of the Greens like Earthworks,Earth Justice and the Sierra Club and their lines of Bull Kaka its good news to see some who will fight back against the unreasonible demands of the Eco-Nazis/Watermelons
What no government money backstopping the climate fraud cartel ?
This lawsuit is over before it starts .
The essences of continuing the largest fraud in history relies on government
enablers to pump tax payer cash into it . Cut off the main source of cash and the criminals will move on to something new .
Politicians who were used are getting ousted or finding out what color their parachute is . Hypocrite actors and fake news like CNN and the NYT are now consumed by Trump bashing to sell their crap so the planets fever falls even further off the map .
Good riddance .