Category: Air Quality

Breaking: Obama asks EPA to withdraw proposed ozone rule

President Barack Obama has asked EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to withdraw the agency’s proposed toughened ozone standards, citing “the importance of reducing regulatory burdens and regulatory uncertainty, particularly as our economy continues to recover.” The President’s statement and EPA’s are below.

These are rules that would provide no health benefits but cost $1 trillion per year in compliance and kill 7.4 million jobs by 2020.

So this is a hugely important victory for American workers and the economy, as well as those of us who have been fighting the EPA’s proposed ozone standards.

In a separate statement, EPA administrator Lisa Jackson says the agency will “revisit” the ozone standard. But that won’t occur until at least 2013 — when, with any luck, she will be able to revisit it from an unemployment line. Continue reading Breaking: Obama asks EPA to withdraw proposed ozone rule

Conn Carroll: Flood of new EPA rules could drown economic growth

“Seven proposed rules pending before the agency are poised to inflict more than $125 billion in costs on the U.S. economy annually, according to EPA’s own estimates… [and] all of the EPA’s claimed health benefits from CAA regulations are, at best, bureaucratic guesses,” says Washington Examiner senior editorial writer Conn Carroll. Read Carroll’s commentary.

Ozone hurts crop production?

Satellite views of the Midwestern United States show that ozone levels above 50 parts per billion (ppb) along the ground could reduce soybean yields by at least 10 percent, costing more than $1 billion in lost crop production, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists. Continue reading Ozone hurts crop production?

House GOP outlines fall attack on EPA

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has laid on plans (see Memo below) to overturn much of the EPA’s economy- and job-killing agenda. But as good as the memo sounds, mere House votes against the EPA will not do the trick. The House needs to strangle the EPA in ongoing debt and budget negotiations. The House controls government purse strings and needs to use that leverage to stop the EPA, which is one of the biggest threats and obstacles to America’s recovery and prosperity. Continue reading House GOP outlines fall attack on EPA

Hurricane Barack: EPA ready to destroy what Irene misses

“Regardless of track and intensity, Hurricane Irene will cause extensive tree and power line damage. Electricity infrastructure will be greatly compromised for millions if not tens of millions of Americans,” predicts the Weather Channel. And as as pointed out by the National Mining Association, what’s left will be compromised even further by the Obama EPA.