"The court’s order was provisional, rejecting a request from a Kentucky electric utility to block the plan while an appeals court considers its challenge."
"The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a request from an electric utility in Kentucky to block an Environmental Protection Agency effort to address the health risks presented by coal ash, a toxic substance created by burning coal to produce electricity.
The court’s brief order gave no reasons, which is typical when it acts on emergency applications. There were no noted dissents.
The utility, East Kentucky Power Cooperative, challenged the E.P.A.’s plan in a federal appeals court in Washington, saying the agency had exceeded its statutory authority by requiring monitoring and remediation at facilities that were no longer producing coal ash. The utility also asked the appeals court to block the plan while it considered the matter, a request the court denied.
The utility then asked the Supreme Court to intervene, saying the statute at issue applied only to sites where solid waste “is disposed of.” The present tense, it said, excluded inactive sites where it said coal ash had been removed."
Adam Liptak reports for the New York Times December 11, 2024.
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