(Editorial - Graphic Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey is right to understand political extremism paired with federal overreach is a dangerous combination. That’s why a case in Guam felt important enough for him to head up a coalition of 21 states in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower court ruling that could threaten states’ permitting authority.

The ruling involved World War II-era munitions disposal at an Air Force base in Guam — a process that has been going on for decades under a permit that must be periodically renewed through the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Authority for such permitting has been rightly delegated by Congress to the states, territories or tribal governments that would actually be affected. During the most recent attempt to renew, however, the Air Force was blocked by activist group Prutehi Guahan, which sued before the Guam EPA had even gotten to the review process. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the group.

“Extreme environmentalist activists are trying to weaponize laws and add unnecessary layers to an established and workable permit process,” McCuskey said. “If they are allowed to succeed, they will be able to delay or block any project — including housing, energy or military — they want at any stage — even before the appropriate agencies have had the chance to look at it. This will cost taxpayers millions of dollars in project delays and cancellations, as well as litigation costs with little, if any, environmental benefit. This is an abuse of the process. Not only that, but it would also strip states of their congressionally mandated permitting authority. Where does it stop? We must take a stand now to end this extreme overreach.”

Giving the federal go-ahead to disrupt the state permitting process before it ever gets off the ground is problematic at best.

“Let the Guam EPA do its job first. If someone wants to challenge the final permit decision, they can do that later, but not before the process even has a chance to work,” McCuskey said.

Surely this U.S. Supreme Court will also see the dangers in clawing too much power away from the states to run their own affairs.