Manatt's Craig Moyer, chair of the firm's Land, Environment and Natural Resources division, spoke to the Washington Examiner about a large coal company's petition against the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed emissions rule for power plants.
As reported by the Washington Examiner, a decades-old discrepancy in a technical amendment to the Clean Air Act might give Murray Energy Corp.'s petition a chance. Separate House and Senate versions of the act were never reconciled and therefore lead to different interpretations. Murray Energy argues that the House language outlaws regulating the source of emissions using both section 111d, the part of the act used for the proposed limits on existing power plants, and section 112, under which the EPA has ordered power plant controls on mercury and air toxics that go into effect in 2016.
"That's actually not a bad argument," said Moyer.
The court is likely to reject the initial petition because the rule, which aims to curb the sector's emissions 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, is in draft stage, Moyer said. But it could resurface when the EPA submits a final rule next year.