Mar 24, 2014 3 min read

Murray Energy Corp. said Monday it has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for what it said was a failure by the agency to consider job losses in its issuance of regulations under the Clean Air Act.

Murray said in a news release that it filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia for the agency’s “illegal promulgation of senseless and destructive regulations, with absolutely no regard for their job and family destruction.”

According to Murray, the Clean Air Act requires the EPA to consider job losses in its issuance of regulations.

In its lawsuit, Murray asks the court to “force the EPA to do what Congress told the agency to do so many years ago: 1. Immediately cease and desist from its disastrous War on Coal; 2. Evaluate the nationwide job losses caused by this War on Coal; and 3. Publicize the true costs of the failed environmental policies enacted by the Obama Administration.”

In its release, Murray claims that over the past several years at least 392 coal-fired electric power plants in the United States were closed or identified for closure by the agency, which the company said represents a loss of about 100,000 megawatts of lowest-cost electric power available across the country. It added that the actions are responsible for the loss of thousands of coal-mining jobs.

Monday’s announcement of legal proceedings against the EPA follows the company’s announcement in late January that it was notifying the agency of its intent to file a lawsuit.

“After the EPA completely failed to respond to our notice letter, we had no choice but to file this lawsuit,” said Gary M. Broadbent, assistant general counsel and media director for Murray Energy.

“The Clean Air Act is crystal clear in requiring the EPA to evaluate the negative impact that their regulations will have on jobs, but they have repeatedly been derelict in their duty.”

Broadbent said there will be additional lawsuits.

“This is just the first of several actions that we have undertaken to protect the livelihoods of coal miners and their families and to preserve low-cost electricity in our country,” he said.

Murray Energy is one of the largest employers in the U.S. coal industry, providing more than 7,200 jobs and operating 13 active coal mines in six states.

In October, Consol Energy Inc. announced the sale of all five of its longwall coal mines in West Virginia to a subsidiary of Murray Energy for $3.5 billion.

The mines purchased by Murray were the McElroy, Shoemaker, Robinson Run, Loveridge and Blacksville No. 2 mines.

The transaction, completed in December, included the transfer of 3,722 hourly and salaried employees to Murray.