A federal court has ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to file a plan and schedule to evaluate the consequences of its air pollution rules on jobs, finding for a giant coal company that is suing the agency for an alleged “war on coal” waged over the past five years.

In an October 17 summary judgment, U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia ordered the agency to file the plan and schedule within 14 days.

The EPA must fully comply with a provision in the Clean Air Act (Section 321[a]) adopted by Congress in 1977 that requires the agency to continually evaluate job losses, which may stem from air pollution rules, said Bailey. Moreover, if the EPA refused to conduct the required evaluation, it would constitute an “abuse of discretion,” owing to the importance, widespread effects, and the claims of the coal industry, he said.

Irreparable Harm

The case stems from a lawsuit filed in March 2011 by troubled coal giant Murray Energy Corp.…

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