National Mining Association (NMA) President and CEO Hal Quinn issued the following statement after the association filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit a petition for review of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Dec. 15 endangerment finding:
 
“In concluding that greenhouse gases pose serious risks that justify regulation, EPA failed to fully examine the far-reaching impacts that such regulations could have on American mining and the nation’s economy.  The agency arrived at its finding after cavalierly disregarding potential economic impacts it, itself, identified. 
 
“EPA’s own estimation is that more than six million sources could be swept into a comprehensive regulatory program requiring the issuance of more than 40,000 permits each year – extending average permit approval times by a decade.  This calamitous outcome would put economic recovery on ‘hold’ indefinitely.  EPA’s hope to avoid this calamity hangs by a thread.  The agency believes it can raise the threshold for regulated sources that is clearly stipulated in the Clean Air Act, despite explicit warnings from the Supreme Court not to presume ‘a roving license to ignore’ statutory limits.
 
“NMA also questions EPA’s procedure for making the finding.  Rather than conduct a new, independent analysis of updated and existing climate change related science and respond to the peer-reviewed scientific information it received earlier, EPA merely endorsed the previous conclusions of various bodies without offering a reasoned assessment of subsequent data.”