This article discusses why Wyoming, Montana Ask US Supreme Court to Hear Coal Export Case.
Wyoming and Montana have asked the United States Supreme Court to hear their challenge to Washington State’s decision against constructing a coal export terminal for environmental reasons.
Governor Mark Gordon made the announcement Tuesday, reiterating his stance that the decision by the Washington Department of Ecology to deny permits for the construction of a proposed terminal amounts to “unconstitutional discrimination.”
“I did not come to this decision lightly, but Wyoming’s ability to export one of our greatest natural resources is being blocked unlawfully,” Gordon said. “It is critical that Section 401 of the Clean Water Act not be used to interfere with lawful interstate commerce. It is not a tool to erect a trade barrier based on a fashionable political agenda.”
Section 401 allows a state to “ensure that activities associated with federally permitted discharges will not impair state water quality,” Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson wrote in a letter dated Nov. 21, 2018. He cited a U.S. Supreme Court ruling which held that “[s]tate certifications under [Section] 401 are essential in the scheme to preserve state authority to address the broad range of pollution.”