Harvard Professor Tribe and Duncan Challenge EPA's Proposed Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines

Harvard Law School Carl M. Loeb Professor Laurence H. Tribe and Shook Hardy & Bacon constitutional and environmental law attorneys Tristan L. Duncan and Tom Grever have served as counsel to the Peabody Energy Corporation in the preparation of comments submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on proposed Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for Existing Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units (Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0602). See comments of Professor Tribe and comments of Peabody Energy Corp.

The comments criticize the “executive overreach” of the EPA’s proposed rule and “accuses the agency of abusing statutory law, violating the Constitution’s Article I, Article II, the separation of powers, the Tenth and Fifth Amendments, and in general displaying contempt for the law.” See The Wall Street Journal, December 5, 2014.

“EPA’s actions serve as a breathtaking example of executive overreach and an assertion of power beyond the agency’s authority,” said Professor Tribe in a press release. “The proposed rule lacks legal basis. It also represents an improper attempt by EPA unilaterally to remake a portion of the American economy on the basis of a hitherto obscure provision of the Clean Air Act, which is a fatally flawed interpretation.” Professor Tribe urges Democrats and Republicans to resist the rule and “stand in support of the rule of law.” See The Wall Street Journal, December 22, 2014.