Murray Energy Corp. v. Administrator of Environmental Protection Agency

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On December 8, 2015, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order setting forth its rationale for granting the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) petition for writ of mandamus precluding the deposition of EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy in a case pending in district court in West Virginia. The case, brought by Murray Energy Corporation and its affiliates, alleges that EPA has failed to comply with Section 321(a) of the Clean Air Act, which provides that EPA shall conduct evaluation of job loss and employment shifts that may result from administration and enforcement of the Clean Air Act. The Fourth Circuit was not convinced by the district court’s finding that alleged conflicts between McCarthy’s testimony before Congress and EPA’s representations to the court constituted “extraordinary circumstances” warranting deposition of a high-ranking official. The Fourth Circuit saw no contradiction in EPA’s position that would support the extraordinary circumstance finding and also was not persuaded that there was no alternative to deposing McCarthy. The Fourth Circuit also disagreed with the district court’s finding that EPA’s “apparent refusal” to comply with Section 321(a) was prima facie evidence of wrongdoing. The Fourth Circuit said that there was no clear misconduct.

On November 25, 2015, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a petition for writ of mandamus by EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy to preclude Murray Energy Corporation (Murray Energy) from deposing her in its lawsuit seeking to compel EPA to undertake an evaluation of the Clean Air Act’s impacts on employment pursuant to Section 321(a) of the Clean Air Act. The Fourth Circuit indicated that a “reasoned exposition” of the basis for its order would follow “shortly.”

EPA supplemented its arguments in support of granting a writ of mandamus precluding deposition of Administrator after the district court denied EPA’s motions.

On January 8, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for writ of certiorari filed by the coal company Murray Energy Corporation and related companies, in which the companies sought review of the Fourth Circuit’s dismissal of their action that sought to compel the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to conduct a study of the Clean Air Act’s effects on employment, particularly in the coal industry. The Fourth Circuit held that the district court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case because EPA had “considerable discretion” to decide how to manage the Clean Air Act’s statutory mandate that EPA “shall conduct continuing evaluations of potential loss or shifts of employment.”

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The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a West Virginia federal district court had erred in concluding that it had jurisdiction to consider the coal company Murray Energy Corporation’s and its affiliates’ lawsuit that sought to compel EPA to conduct evaluations of the Clean Air Act’s employment effects. The district court ruled that EPA was required to conduct such evaluations in October 2016 and set an expedited schedule for EPA’s compliance. The Fourth Circuit ruled that the provision at issue—Section 321(a) of the Clean Air Act—did not “impose on the EPA a specific and discrete duty amenable to” judicial review under Section 304(a)(2) of the Clean Air Act. (Section 321(a) provides that EPA Administrator “shall conduct continuing evaluations of potential loss or shifts of employment which may result from the administration or enforcement of the [Clean Air Act] including where appropriate, investigating threatened plant closures or reductions in employment allegedly resulting from such administration or enforcement.”) The Fourth Circuit said Section 321(a) imposed “a broad, open-ended statutory mandate” and that EPA was left with “considerable discretion” in managing this mandate, including getting to decide “how to collect a broad set of employment impact data, how to judge and examine this extensive data, and how to manage these tasks on an ongoing basis”—a process that a court “is ill-equipped to supervise.” The Fourth Circuit also distinguished Section 321(a)’s mandate from other Clean Air Act provisions that offered “discrete directives accompanied by specific guidance on matters of content, procedure, and timing.” The Fourth Circuit also dismissed as moot an environmental group’s appeal of the district court’s denial of its motion to intervene.

EPA submitted its reply brief in the appeal on April 14. Environmental groups that unsuccessfully sought to intervene on EPA’s behalf filed a final brief on April 17 seeking reversal of the denial of their request. Oral argument is to take place on May 9.

Supplemental brief filed by EPA.