National Mining Association President and CEO Hal Quinn commented regarding today’s U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruling in Mingo Logan Coal Company v. EPA that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the right to veto a Clean Water Act section 404(c) permit after it has been issued:
“By upholding the Environmental Protection Agency’s view that it has unbounded authority to retroactively revoke permits issued by another federal agency, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has pulled the regulatory rug out from under the feet of U.S. companies, eliminating the certainty of permits and upending an already complicated permitting process. As a result, a cloud of uncertainty now hangs over any project and companies will no longer have the assurance required to encourage investments, grow our economy and create U.S. jobs.”