Coal-Industry

EPA Finalizes Affordable Clean Energy Rule Replacing Clean Power Plan With Weaker Standards

| Importance: 9/10

On June 19, 2019, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler signed the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) Rule, replacing the Obama-era Clean Power Plan with regulations designed to extend the lifetimes of heavily polluting coal-fired power plants. The ACE Rule established no meaningful limits on carbon pollution …

Andrew Wheeler Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Donald Trump Coal Industry Scott Pruitt climate-denial epa regulatory-capture environmental-destruction coal-industry +1 more
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Coal Lobbyist Andrew Wheeler Becomes Acting EPA Administrator After Pruitt Resignation

| Importance: 8/10

On July 9, 2018, Donald Trump named Andrew Wheeler as Acting EPA Administrator following Scott Pruitt’s resignation amid 14 federal corruption investigations. Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist who had represented Murray Energy—one of America’s largest coal companies—embodied …

Andrew Wheeler Donald Trump Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Faegre Baker Daniels Murray Energy +1 more regulatory-capture epa fossil-fuels climate-denial revolving-door +1 more
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Massey Energy CEO Spends $3 Million to Elect Judge in Case Against His Company

| Importance: 8/10

Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship pours over $3 million into West Virginia’s 2004 judicial election to elect Brent Benjamin to the state Supreme Court of Appeals, successfully defeating incumbent justice Warren McGraw. Blankenship’s spending—equivalent to “a dollar for every West …

Don Blankenship Brent Benjamin Hugh Caperton Massey Energy Company West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals +1 more judicial-corruption campaign-finance regulatory-capture coal-industry political-influence +1 more
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Bush Administration Redefines Mining Waste as Fill Material to Enable Mountaintop Removal

| Importance: 7/10

The Bush administration’s Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers jointly revise Clean Water Act regulations to classify mining debris and waste rock as “fill material” that can legally be dumped into streams and valleys. The rule change enables the coal …

George W. Bush U.S. Environmental Protection Agency U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Coal Industry environmental-destruction regulatory-capture coal-industry administrative-corruption clean-water-act +2 more
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