The Obama Administration Loses a Battle in Its War on Coal In an effort to regulate coal plants out of existence in accordance with President Obama's war on coal, the EPA recently argued before the Supreme Court that they did not have to weigh the costs of new environmental regulations against the supposed benefits. In a ruling announced on Monday, the Court said no, instructing the EPA to conduct a cost/benefit analysis before implementing the rules. Some may consider this the Courts way of throwing conservatives a bone after two landmark decisions went against them, one dealing with the legality of Affordable Care Act subsidies, and the other legalizing same-sex marriage. Conservatives see both cases as the Court rewriting the law and using tortured language to make the law fit their desired outcome. The Obama administration and EPA may have lost a battle, but fully intends to win the war. This decision is in reality the SCOTUS telling the EPA what they need to do to win, in effect coaching them. The EPA will come up with wild predictions on cost savings, not unlike the supposed savings brought by Obamacare. Like those, these will be just as bogus and the Supreme Court will totally buy them.