The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated the Bush Administration’s controversial regulations governing mercury emissions from power plants this morning. This is a big loss for the Administration and a big win for the states and environmentalist groups that challenged the rule. The decision in New Jersey v. EPA is here. I’m crashing on some deadlines, but I hope to have more to say about the decision later today or over the weekend.
UPDATE: The Washington Post covers the decision here. As the story notes, one consequence of the decision is to delay the eventual imposition of mercury emissions from power plants. On the other hand, the decision virtually assures that when federal mercury standards are eventually imposed, they will be more stringent than the Bush Administration had proposed.