West Virginia is preparing to back EPA in court as the agency steels itself for inevitable legal challenges to its repeal of the legal cornerstone for the agency’s climate regulations.
“The science has evolved, the legal landscape as well, so that certainly gives them enough room to reevaluate” the endangerment finding, West Virginia Solicitor General Michael Williams said to POLITICO’s E&E News on Friday, speaking on the sidelines of a conference in Washington hosted by the conservative Pacific Legal Foundation.
Williams praised EPA for the degree and seriousness of its analysis leading up to its repeal of the 2009 endangerment finding, which provided the legal basis for regulating planet-warming emissions from vehicles, power plants, and the oil and gas sector.
Litigation over the repeal is all but guaranteed to end up at the Supreme Court. Two recent rulings from the high court provide legal backing for the Trump administration’s move, said Williams.
