West Virginia mirrors Kentucky in its battle against the EPA

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Kentucky isn't the only state having problems with the Environmental Protection Agency retroactively overturning mining permits years after they were already approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers  - and put people to work.

In 2011, Kentucky won its court battle against the EPA when a federal circuit court judge ruled that the mid-Atlantic bureaucrats had overstepped their boundaries when they blocked previously approved permits, putting hundreds of miners out of work. Now it's neighboring West Virginia taking the EPA to task for nearly identical reasons.

Actually, like Kentucky, West Virginia already won its court battle against the EPA, but an appeal is to be heard before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The case is likely to have far-reaching implications, and could even go before the U.S. Supreme Court.

If it does go before the Supreme Court, the verdict will have a major impact on how the feds treat state sovereignty over energy, a cause which the Bluegrass Institute has long championed. Still, there is a weapon Kentuckians can take advantage of to battle the feds' constant encroachment of Kentucky's energy sector - the Bluegrass Institute-sponsored piece of model legislation called the Intrastate Coal and Use Act.

Let's hope the U.S. Supreme Court upholds Kentucky's 9th and 10th Amendment rights, so such a weapon isn't necessary.