By Amy Harder and Brent Kendall | The Wall Street Journal
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would review the nation’s first-ever standards requiring power plants to reduce mercury emissions and other toxic air pollutants, taking up a case with implications for President Barack Obama ’s broader environmental agenda.
The high court accepted several challenges to the rules brought by the utility industry and a coalition of nearly two dozen states (including Arizona), including those where utilities rely on coal for most power generation.
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Comments by Court Rich, senior partner, Rose Law Group: “This has particular importance for Arizona as EPA regulations seem to disproportionately impact our state. As coal retrofit and cleaning costs go up, so to do we risk seeing increases in the cost of precious water that is pumped from the Colorado River to the Valley using coal fired power. Increase costs for basic utilities make Arizona far less attractive for economic growth.
“At the same time, these specific regulations are not the ones aimed at the controversial global warming claims, but rather at the pretty clear health impacts from burning coal including releasing poisons, such as mercury into environment. So, to the extent these regulations are implemented they should have substantial financial benefits in the form of reduced costs incurred in healthcare for people impacted.”
