House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today released the following statement after a federal judge ruled that President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency’s unprecedented move last year to retroactively revoke an Army Corps of Engineers permit for a coal mine in West Virginia “exceeded its authority under section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act.” The court concluded that the Spruce No. 1 mine is now “valid and in full force.”

“This is a common sense victory of American jobs and American-made energy over the out-of-control job-destroying actions of the Obama EPA. The forcefulness and clarity with which the federal judge beat back this unprecedented abuse by the Obama EPA is warranted considering its shocking attempt to proactively destroy high-paying jobs at a coal mine that had already been officially approved, permitted and underway. President Obama can criss-cross the country making speeches trying to dodge responsibility for rising gasoline and energy costs, but it’s the President’s own policies and agencies that are driving up prices by driving down energy production.”

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