June 29, 2015 4:52 PM

Supremes send EPA back to the drawing board on clean coal regulations

Challenge to Waters of the US rule appears to be bobbing on the horizon

Gov. Greg Abbott must feel a certain satisfaction in the U.S. Supreme Court dressing down the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to perform a cost-benefit analysis on its proposed regulation of coal-powered plant emissions.

Of all the Obama Administration agencies Abbott targeted in his time as attorney general, the EPA was his favorite. He has sued the agency multiple times in his 12 years as attorney general over what he called regulation overreach. He emerged as a skeptic of climate change during his campaign, although he admitted the state should protect the environment. And, for good measure, Abbott as governor met went to Capitol Hill in May to express his unhappiness over the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan.

Abbott’s response today on the opinion, however, was measured, saying that the Supreme Court had rightly upheld the argument that the EPA had violated the law when it imposed a multi-billion-dollar regulation on power plants without considering cost.

By Kimberly Reeves