Posted on 03/18/2015 6:58:59 PM PDT by Citizen Zed
Business groups are waging war on the Obama administration’s proposal to reduce ozone pollution, arguing the regulations would cripple the U.S. economy.
In order to comply with the proposed rule, many areas of the country would have to all but shut down land development and oil and natural gas drilling, industry groups charged on the final day for comments.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is being spurred on by greens and health groups, who argue that lower ozone emissions would benefit public health. The agency, they contend, is obligated to adopt the stricter standards.
But the rules would translate to higher electric bills for American families, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity is said in comments it filed Tuesday.
“At the same time, declining real household incomes coupled with increasing energy costs are harming the 60 million American families with low and middle incomes.”
The American Petroleum Institute (API) said it is too soon to change the standard of 75 parts per billion, the current standard set in 2008. The EPA is proposing a cut to between 65 and 70 ppb, but many states and localities have not yet begun to implement the 2008 regulation, the group notes.
“If President Obama is serious about lifting up the middle class and closing the income inequality gap, the last thing his administration should do is threaten jobs and our energy and manufacturing renaissance with unnecessary new regulations,” Howard Feldman, API’s director of regulatory affairs, told reporters.
The oil and gas group said the lower end of the range the EPA is considering would be within the amount of naturally occurring ozone levels of many areas.
“As proposed, the new standards could impose unachievable emission reduction requirements in virtually every part of the nation,” Feldman said.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
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