Posted on EMPOWERTEXANS by Dustin Matocha

Texas has again wona battle against the EPA thanks to a 5th U.S. Circuit Court ofAppeals ruling. As a result, Texas cancontinue utilizing its flexible permitting program — a victory for the 10thamendment, and Texas’economy.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court ofAppeals ruled Monday the EPA overstepped itsbounds by prohibiting the State of Texasfrom utilizing its “flexible permitting program.” The programallowed refineries, power plants and other major industrial facilities toimplement their own pollution-control protocols, so long as their aggregateamount of emissions did not exceed levels set by the federal government.

Not good enough, said the ObamaAdministration. In typical disregard for the 10th Amendment, theyargued such policy gave “too much discretionarypower” to the director of the Texas Commission on EnvironmentalQuality.

CHARLESTON –When all you ever see in the media is the caricature presented by anti-coalextremists, it is easy to miss the great benefits that West Virginia, Kentuckyand Virginia have derived from mountaintop surface mining. When they actually seelook at the sites they soon begin to realize the great potential these siteshave for helping with economic diversification and development across thecoalfields.

Members of the Southern Legislative Conference Energy andEnvironmental Committee got just such an up-close view of surface coal miningduring a special tour of two area surface mines July 31.

The West Virginia Coal Association hosted thelegislators, who hailed from West Virginia, Oklahoma, Texas, Georgia, Virginia,North Carolina and even Canada, visiting the Pritchard Mining Four-Mile mine aswell as the Tyler-Morgan facility near the Kanawha/Fayette border.

“A decision today by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia is yet another victory for West Virginia’s 63,000 coal mining families in their efforts to defend their jobs against an on-going legal onslaught that has needlessly delayed mining permits for years.

In its decision in the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition v. United States Army Corps of Engineers case the Court said in essence that it is the sole purview of the states, their elected policymakers (such as the Legislature) and state regulatory agencies to determine water quality standards when granting mining permits.

“Today was a good day for the 63,000 coal mining families of West Virginia. The decision by U.S. District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton to toss out another key part of the Obama Administration’s on-going war against coal mining in Appalachia is yet more proof that the administration’s regulatory assault is an egregious breach of the Constitutional balance of power between the federal government and the individual states.

“In his decision in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, Walton tossed out the agency’s ‘final guidance’ document with regard to water conductivity standards. Walton said the EPA had ‘overstepped its statutory authority under the Clean Water Act and the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act and infringed on the authority afforded state regulators by those statutes.’

PINEVILLE, WV– July 19, 2012 – Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE:CLF) (Paris:CLF) announced today a $10,000 contribution to the Volunteer WestVirginia Food Bank Fund. The fund was established after recent damaging stormsand power outages affected most of the state. Storm relief efforts have beencoordinated by West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin’s office and VolunteerWest Virginia.

“Cliffscares about our communities and wants to do our share to assist relief effortsfollowing these devastating storms,” said David Webb, Cliffs’ Senior VicePresident of Global Coal Operations. “Cliffs’ donation will assistorganizations already in place to help those hardest hit and least able to copewith the recent destruction.”