Coal states v Uncle Sam

摘要

Congress passed the Clean Air Act to reduce harmful air pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency (epa) issues regulations to enforce that law. But 21 states are asking the Supreme Court to rule that the epa has overstepped its authority. The case of Michigan v epa, which was argued on March 25th, concerns the agency's plan to regulate mercury, arsenic and other toxins emitted by power plants. Both sides agree that the new rule would cost about $9.6 billion a year to implement. The epa estimates that reduced mercury emissions would bring health benefits of up to $6m a year-a tiny sum it reached only after assuming that lots of pregnant "women in subsistence fishing populations" will eat vast amounts of mercury-tainted fish and thereby reduce their children's IQs by an undetectable 0.002 points each.