Regulating Coal Ash Waste In the Trump Era

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dc.creatorSherwin, Brie D.
dc.date.accessioned2018-04-09T13:28:21Z
dc.date.available2018-04-09T13:28:21Z
dc.date.issued2017
dc.description.abstractOn February 16, 2017, President Trump signed legislation repealing the Stream Protection Rule and touted the move as clearing the way for job growth. By utilizing a rarely-used federal statute, called the Congressional Review Act, the Republican-held Congress voted to kill this new and complex rule meant to address thirty-three-year-old regulations governing the dumping of coal waste in or near streambeds. As the Stream Protection Rule dies, so does scientific support for updated requirements to protect the ecology of waterways near Appalachian communities. This repeal follows the “solid waste classification” given to coal ash waste under Subtitle D of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act in October 2015. The new classification returned power back to states to regulate coal ash disposal, disappointing many environmentalists who argue that states are failing to protect communities from the dangers associated with coal ash impoundments. Environmental protection is facing new challenges with the trending dialogue that involves alternative facts and scientific spin. In this new era of alternative facts and scientific spin, will regulatory rollbacks of environmental regulations truly bring back promised and meaningful job growth in the coal sector? And, what still exists of environmental policies that once balanced the protection of environmental and human health with what was economically feasible? This article examines the diminishing power of federal administrative agencies in protecting the environment. This article also argues that the superficial comparison of job growth with environmental protection is flawed and explains the ever-increasing importance of science in policymaking and the regulatory process. Finally, the article argues that state primacy is largely set up to fail in this scenario because states are either ill equipped or unmotivated when it comes to enforcing regulations involving coal waste.en_US
dc.identifier.citation37 Stan. Envtl. L.J. 75en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2346/73558
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherStanford Environmental Law Journalen_US
dc.subjectStream Protection Ruleen_US
dc.subjectCongressional Review Acten_US
dc.subjectCoal ash wasteen_US
dc.subjectEnvironmental protectionen_US
dc.subjectJob growthen_US
dc.subjectSurface Mining Control and Reclamation Acten_US
dc.subjectSMCRAen_US
dc.titleRegulating Coal Ash Waste In the Trump Eraen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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