EPA's Duty To Conduct Continuous Employment Evaluations Under The CAA

On October 19, the Northern District of West Virginia handed a victory to Murray Energy by requiring EPA to conduct continuous economic evaluations of its regulatory implementation of the Clean Air Act.

In its lawsuit against EPA, Murray invoked a rarely used provision of the Act—Section 321(a)—which states that EPA "shall conduct continuing evaluations of potential loss or shifts of employment which may result from the administration or enforcement of the provision of [the Clean Air Act] and applicable implementation plans." EPA's defense to the court was that the impact analyses developed in support of most of its individual rulemaking actions are enough to satisfy the provision. However, the court rejected that claim and required EPA to do more than just justify each rule one at a time.  Instead, EPA must conduct "contin[uous] evaluations" as to the economic ramifications of the Agency's entire collection of air regulations, according to the court.