Franklin, Andrews, Kramer & Edelstein

[scion]

Courts Thwart Administration’s Effort to Rescind Obama-Era Environmental Regulations

By ERIC LIPTON OCT. 6, 2017
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/06/climate/trump-administration-environmental-regulations.html

WASHINGTON — The rapid-fire push by the Trump administration to wipe out significant chunks of the Obama environmental legacy is running into a not-so-minor complication: Judges keep ruling that the Trump team is violating federal law.

The latest such ruling came late Wednesday, when a federal magistrate judge in Northern California vacated a move by the Department of Interior to delay compliance with rules curbing so-called flaring, a technique oil and gas companies use to burn off leaking methane. Flaring is blamed for contributing to climate change as well as lost tax revenues because the drilling is being done on federal land.

It was the third time since July that the Environmental Protection Agency or the Interior Department has been found to have acted illegally in their rush to roll back environmental rules. And in three other environmental cases, the Trump administration reversed course on its own after lawsuits accusing it of illegal actions were filed by environmental groups and Democratic state attorneys general.

The legal reversals reflect how aggressively Mr. Trump’s critics are challenging the administration’s efforts to rescind regulations enacted during the Obama administration, not only related to the environment, but to immigration, to consumer protection and to other areas.

Yet even as the list of failed or at least stalled rollbacks continues to grow, the Trump administration, in many other cases, continues to move ahead, often taking multiple steps related to the kill the same rule, meaning these early setbacks do not necessarily mean the matters are settled.

“The Trump administration is confident in its legal positions and looks forward to arguing — and winning — before the federal judiciary,” Kelly Love, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement. “This is in stark contrast to the previous administration, which may be the worst win rate before the Supreme Court since the Taylor administration in the early 1850s.”

Still, the string of court rulings and administrative reversals — even some conservative legal scholars agree — is a sign that the Trump administration has been in such a rush to undo the Obama legacy that it is almost inviting legal challenges.

“If I were in this administration, this should be seen as a warning sign,” said Jonathan H. Adler, the director of the Center for Business Law & Regulation at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. “The message is clear: Guys, we have a problem here. We are trying to do stuff that is hard and we are not crossing our i’s and t’s.”

Environmentalists see it as proof that Mr. Trump and his team care little about honoring federal law.

“It shows serial lawbreaking and sloppiness by a Trump administration bent on rollbacks,” said John Walke, the director of the clean air project at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “It is sad they have to have their comeuppance in courts rather than doing what was right.”

But this is hardly the first administration to have administrative decisions overturned as a result of court challenges. Environmentalist challenging the moves by George W. Bush to loosen air pollution rules won 27 court rulings during his eight-year tenure.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/06/climate/trump-administration-environmental-regulations.html