Obama Harvard Law Professor Tribe Calls Key EPA Rule ‘Overreach’

[former9thward]

Harvard University law professor Laurence Tribe, a mentor to President Barack Obama, said the administration’s carbon rule for power plants is “a remarkable example of executive overreach” that raises “serious constitutional questions.”

Tribe, who submitted joint comments to the Environmental Protection Agency with coal producer Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU), said the agency should withdraw its plan to cut emissions from power plants because it reverses decades of federal support for coal.

“The Proposed Rule lacks any legal basis and should be withdrawn,” Tribe and Peabody wrote in their filing, which law firms for the company said was submitted to EPA on the Dec. 1 deadline. Peabody, the nation’s largest coal producer, has declined more than 44 percent in trading since the EPA plan was unveiled at the beginning of June.

Tribe, who has called Obama his most impressive student at Harvard Law School, raised a series of criticisms of the EPA’s power rule, calling it “an extravagant and impermissible overreach by the agency,”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-05/obama-harvard-law-professor-tribe-calls-key-epa-rule-overreach-.html

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Gee, I wonder what industry is paying him to be an 'expert'

[elleng]

2. Sorry to say it sounds like Prof. Tribe's position was, like so many other 'experts,'

bought.

'raised a series of criticisms of the EPA’s power rule, calling it “an extravagant and impermissible overreach by the agency,”

First it “repudiates a policy of prudent use of coal” that dates back to the administration of President John F. Kennedy in the early 1960s, according to the filing.

Second, the EPA plan violates the Fifth Amendment, because it takes private property without due process. “The Proposed Rule represents a radical shift in federal policy that upsets settled, investment-backed expectations,” the company and Tribe wrote in their 36-page submission. The EPA is “forcing the United States’ power plants and energy industry to bear the global burden of lessening carbon dioxide emissions.”

Third, contradictory provisions in the amendments of the Clean Air Act mean that the section being used by the agency to establish these rules “ignores basic principles of statutory construction,” and raises separation of powers issues.

“At bottom, the Proposed Rule hides political choices and frustrates accountability. It forces states to adopt policies that will raise energy costs and prove deeply unpopular, while cloaking those policies in the garb of state ‘‘choice’’ – even though in fact the polices are compelled by EPA,” the filing concluded.'

I am nor persuaded. (I am not an environmental law expert.)

[karynnj]

35. Ellen, how is this different from the cases where the SC supported Obama's actions?

http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2014/supreme-court-upholds-epa-s-authority-to-limit-carbon-pollution

[elleng]

40. Have to compare SC decision

and what's reported of Tribe's participation; will study these shortly.

Keeping in mind what I suspect will be HUGE efforts by energy firms henceforth, all holds are off, imo. For example: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/us/politics/energy-firms-in-secretive-alliance-with-attorneys-general.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

[karynnj]

41. Thanks

Not surprised that we will see a huge effort. I guess it could be seen as a measure of how real the Obama regulations are. Independent of the regulations, I am stunned by how I see more and more solar panels and windmills. True, I live in Vermont, but I suspect the difference is really because their are companies that couple the solar panels with a loan where the payment period can be set to keep the cost equal to the current electric bill.

[Fred Sanders]

3. What does "mentor" mean? It is unexplained. Where does the article expand on the bare faced

statement taken as fact? Being a professor in a course is not the same as being a mentor.

Linking this opinion somehow to Obama, an opinion obtained by a legal firm paid by the coal industry......Bloomberg Business propganda fail.

[former9thward]

6. Maybe you should read Obama's books.

He calls Tribe his mentor. Tribe also had as students Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kagan. Obama and Kagan worked for Tribe as researchers at Harvard.

[Kingofalldems]

13. Looks like they disagree here.

What's the story then?

[Drunken Irishman]

15. It's just another jab by the anti-Obama left...

The hypocrites who bitch he isn't doing enough and then bitch when he does something. These are the people who will complain no matter what Obama does. They're the definition of Obama Haters.

And no, I'm not talking about Tribe.

[Kingofalldems]

16. I think it's the anti-Obama right.

Otherwise I agree with your post.

[Drunken Irishman]

17. Maybe...then they're parading around as liberals.

[Major Hogwash]

38. The clowns come somewhere in the middle of the parade for a reason.

They don't want to be placed near the front or else they may not attract enough spectators because some people arrive late.
They don't want to be placed near the end because the attention span of most spectators isn't long enough for that.
So, they usually are placed somewhere near the middle of the parade.

I know a lot about parades having marched in dozens of them for over 40 years.

[Cali_Democrat]

42. Yep...in this case it's definitely the anti-Obama right...

[Cali_Democrat]

8. Great minds....

my first thought as soon as I read this article.

It's amazing how many mentors the media has assigned to Obama.

Rev. Wright.

Bill Ayers

Bernadine Dorn

etc...

This list goes on and on.

I think Obama has set the record for most mentors in a lifetime...

[former9thward]

14. Obama called Tribe a mentor in his books.

Was Obama lying?

Harvard professor Laurence Tribe is a sort of legal rock star, particularly among liberals. First-year law students he has never met don't just show up at his door saying, "I want to work for you." At least they didn't until March 31, 1989.

Tribe recently retrieved his daily calendar from that year and pointed to the entry for the last day in March. Just above reminders for "Haircut?" and "Write US Atty," it says, "11 am: Barack Obama (1L)," indicating that this was a first-year law student.

"And then it has a phone number, which I guess is his dorm room," Tribe pointed out, "and there's an exclamation point next to it." That was to remind Tribe how impressed he was by this skinny kid in jeans, a sweatshirt and an afro.

Their first conversation lasted hours, and Obama went on to work for Tribe on articles and books, including one called Abortion: The Clash of Absolutes. The two have remained close, with Tribe serving as a mentor and informal adviser to the president over the years.

http://www.npr.org/2012/05/22/153214284/obamas-harvard-days-began-with-exclamation-point

I guess it was all made up

[Fred Sanders]

18. Where is it again that Obama said this guy was his mentor? Your link is more conclusion.

Exclamation point in an appointment book .....that is the evidence? Maybe for you.

What books and what "calling" are you referring to? I could be wrong, but I see no evidence other than conclusions...conclusions that are irreleant to the EPA issue in any event.

[former9thward]

25. Yeah, the media is all making it up.

Only you know better. Google Tribe's name and you come up with thousands of links with "Obama mentor" in it. But according to you Tribe might have walked by Obama at Harvard but that is about it. You are so transparent....

[Cali_Democrat]

43. So your evidence if this mentorship is number of google links?

That's scientific!

[former9thward]

44. No it is what they say.

You are obviously fearful of what they say so you don't click them. It is the media conspiracy you posted about upthread!

[Ykcutnek]

4. Everybody has a price. nt

[former9thward]

7. Really?

So you are saying no one can have an honest opinion without being bribed for it. What is your price?

[Ykcutnek]

9. As a resident of an area destroyed by the fossil fuel industry,

I don't have much faith, respect, or trust in anyone toeing the anti-environment line.

[former9thward]

11. This is a legal question.

The subject matter could be anything. He is arguing the EPA does not have the constitutional authority for this particular action. It has nothing to do with the environment. He could be saying the same thing about the DoD or DoJ.

[Fred Sanders]

19. Well, no. The legal opinion by the paid for law firm is very specific to environmental laws.

Trying to dummy down the issue to a one size fits all to justify your erroneous conclusion is transparent.

[liberal_at_heart]

26. I don't understand. How is it that the agency that is responsible for protecting the

environment and how the environment affects human health not responsible for making sure that power plants don't pollute the air we breathe?

[former9thward]

28. It is.

And has been for 44 years now. But every section of our government must take actions which are Constitutional. Tribe does not think this one is. Simple as that.

[liberal_at_heart]

30. just because it reverses decades of federal support of the coal industry? That sounds weak to me.

It is the EPAs job to protect the environment and public health, not protect the federal government's relationship with the coal industry.

[AngryAmish]

21. Are you disagreeing with Ted DiBiasi?

[GeorgeGist]

5. Cha Ching ...

Tribe represented General Electric in its defense against its liability under Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act ("Superfund&quot , in which GE and Tribe unsuccessfully argued that the act unconstitutionally violated General Electric's due process rights.[13]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Tribe

[Ykcutnek]

10. "So you are saying no one can have an honest opinion without being bribed for it."

[Fred Sanders]

20. Clearly the point was folks you pay for an opinion are likely to give you the opinion you want..?

[former9thward]

23. Who were the people on the opposite side bribed by?

[RiverLover]

12. "coal producer Peabody Energy Corp said the agency should withdraw its plan to cut emissions"

Do these people not have children???

[liberal_at_heart]

27. It is the poor who have to live near industrial areas. It is their children who suffer the most

health problems, so even if the people at the energy company do have children their children are not affected and they clearly don't care if poor people's children get sick.

[Tarheel_Dem]

22. Doesn't matter to you what the issue is, as long as the opinion is somehow anti Obama, right?

Gotcha!

[former9thward]

24. Is this Obama's opinion?

I didn't know he was doing technical rule making for the EPA.

[joeybee12]

29. He submitted it jointly with a coal producing corporation...

Need I say more?

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

31. "...because it reverses decades of federal support for coal."

I don't recall anything in the Constitution that said just because the Feds have supported coal for decades, they are required to support it forever.

Coal is merely one choice among many to provide what we actually want - useable energy. If there is an alternative that is less costly (in terms of externalities, not just market price) the federal government is under no obligation to continue 'support for coal'.

[liberal_at_heart]

32. exactly.

[djean111]

33. "federal policy that upsets settled, investment-backed expectations" - heart of the matter. n/t

[karynnj]

37. Does that mean all the tobacco regulations should also be reconsidered?

They certainly changed the investment expectations.

[djean111]

39. I am sure that if tobacco had the money and clout that coal has, they would make the same argument.

I have seen this argument made in defense of stifling solar power - that the utilities corporations MUST make the same and increasing profits for their investors, and that the health of the earth was secondary to that.
A bit startling to see the naked greed spelled out so clearly. Welcome to the Investor State. The TPP and TTIP and other agreements will make the whole world the Investor State.

[karynnj]

34. The Supreme Court already ruled this was ok this summer

http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2014/supreme-court-upholds-epa-s-authority-to-limit-carbon-pollution

Obviously, Tribe must be trying a different argument. Note that he is doing this and obviously is being paid by a coal company.

[Major Hogwash]

36. I'm sure that Tribe knows that.

What we have here is the student teaching the professor.

That is all.